I want to use this opportunity to tell you all a little bit more about what we do at the Index. As a staff, we often find the community has many misconceptions about us, and what we do. I’d like to give you the opportunity to learn a little bit more about us, and hopefully, clarify some questions we often hear from readers.
First, when we say we are a student-produced newspaper, we mean it. Every single aspect of our paper, from writing stories to designing to selling ads to making all the tough decisions that a business, espcially a newspaper, has to. We do it all.
Professors are not included in our day to day operations. Our adviser, communications professor Don Krause, does just what his title implies. He advises. We come to him for advice, for answers to hypothetical situations or his opinion on an ethical issues — but he doesn’t make any of those decisions. He doesn’t stand over our shoulders and tell us when something is wrong. He doesn’t do a final edit on the paper before it goes to print. In fact, he doesnt see the paper before it goes to print. We don’t want him to. We don’t want any control over the product we put out 28 times a year. And he’d rather stay out of the process as well.
So when we say we are student produced, we mean it. Absolutely, 100 percent student produced. And thats the way we want it.
That means that sometimes, we make mistakes. Bone-headed mistakes. We try to keep them from happening as much as possible, but we aren’t perfect and we aren’t professionals. But we hold ourselves to a very high standard, just like we have for the past 102 years. And hopefully we will for another 102 years.
Second, because we are entirely student produced, we all (about 65 part-time and full-time employees) juggle a lot. We’re mostly all full-time students. So along with our 12-17 credit hours, homework and social lives, we work anywhere from 5 to 50 hours a week for the Index (the hours of a reporter writing one story a week to the editor in chief, me). Don’t feel sorry for us, we love it. This isn’t about me telling you our sob story. We just want the community to understand us a little better.
Because of the crazy hours we work on top of our Index duties, we work at odd hours. Monday – Wednesday, most of us arrive in the office for production around 5 p.m. We leave (depending on our respective jobs) anywhere from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. So our hours can be wonky. So our business hours have to be adjusted because of our lives as students. We can’t work 9-5. And sometime that frustrates people who try to get in touch with us. We aren’t dissing you, we aren’t ignoring you. We just operate on a very different work schedule. If you’ve tried many times to get in touch with us to no avail, you can email me at index.editor@gmail.com. Just know that we want you to call us, email us or smokescreen us. We’re just extremely busy kids, trying to balance life with work with school. And sometimes we are able to fit some sleep in there.
That is just a small peek into the world of the Index. What we do, who we are, and why sometimes you might only get a voicemail here at the office. Know that we really love what we do, bringing the news to you 28 times a year. We just want you to know a little bit more about us.
Keep trying to get in touch with us.
Call us – Index office – 660.785.4449, Index ad line – 660.785.4319
E-mail us – index.editor@gmail.com, indextips@gmail.com (see “about” at www.trumanindex.com for the e-mail addresses of other editors)
*if these don’t get a response, you can e-mail me personally at brennamcdermott11@gmail.com.
And as always, keep on readin’.
-Brenna
