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This issue marks the beginning of Heather Zajdels reign at the helm of The Hoot. She is this papers second editor-in-chief. Heather has been news editor of The Hoot since March and is committed to the goal of making the campus media accessible to all students.

Heather has been training for the last few months and is ready to lead the paper forward.

She has been doing much of the tasks of an editor-in-chief over the last few issues and has shown she is more than qualified to take over. Shes both enthusiastic and dedicated, two qualities very important to being a club leader.

Over the last semester, The Hoot has found its identity as being a voice of the students. Any student wishing to have a voice on campus has found a welcome home with The Hoot. Whether a student had the goal of writing fiction, drawing comics or cartoons, writing opinions or covering sports The Hoot has tried to act as a means in helping students to reach their ends.

Over time, weve have developed a non-intrusive editing style where columns and articles are edited for accuracy and grammar and not content. Our policy has and continues to be respectful of the writers wordsif its not our by-line, we seldom make any non-grammatical changes.

The job of an editor-in-chief is not one of a dictator, but rather of a facilitator helping editors and staff reach their full potential and accomplish their journalistic goals. By working with them (rather than them working for you), a professional yet friendly atmosphere develops in an organization.

I have full confidence that Heather will stay committed to these principles lead The Hoot in the next phase of its development. I hope that in the semesters to come, the community continue to show Heather and the rest of the editors the same support it has shown The Hoot over the last two semesters.

As outgoing editor-in-chief, Id like to thank everyone who has helped in getting The Hoot off the ground over the last year. As I wrote to The Hoots staff last week, together we have shown what a community newspaper can be a megaphone for any interested community member to use as means of expressing themselves. Together, we created a newspaper whose editors arent guards to its pages, but guides who help, not hinder, anyone wanting a voice.

The Hoot has grown from a newspaper that was based out of Mod 16 being mostly run by members of the class of 2005 off personal computers to one that now shares a permanent place on campus, using great new equipment and having young and dynamic editors. Without community support, The Hoot could not have lasted more than one or two issues. Thank you!

Remember, The Hoot was founded on the idea that the media needs to be accessible to the community it serves so if you ever have an comments, questions, concerns or suggestions please e-mail editor@thehoot.net and someone will respond to you in a timely matter.
Igor Pedan

Thank You!
A special thank you goes out to Brian Walton who helped The Hoot afford some equipment that we can share with the rest of the Brandeis Media Coalition (BMC). Through his help, all BMC clubs will be able use computers and a printer that are much more reliable than current ones available to non-secure media clubs. Brian, Thank you for your support!
Hoot Editorial Board