I have recently become aware that many readers of “The Siskiyou” feel that there is a lack of communication between them and us, the managers and editors of the newspaper. I have to say that I agree.

Every week, I open up the Siskiyou e-mail, hoping to see responses to our publication, but I rarely do. I get the occasional letter from someone affiliated with the Associated Students of Southern Oregon University or a note from the athletic department, thanking us for covering club hockey and lacrosse. I keep wishing for the day when someone sends in their plan to encourage alternative modes of transportation around Ashland or their thoughts on some of the candidates vying for their chance to change the world in 2008. “You’ve got no new messages,” my computer sadly tells me.

Let me just state now, everyone is open to express their ideas about pertinent issues. This is the student newspaper, and I think it is vital that the voice of the SOU student is heard. That’s what we’re here for, after all.

Send us a letter to the editor and bring light to an unknown issue that you feel the campus community needs to know about. Tell us something about the nation that has just been grinding your gears. Educate us on cultures that live a life different than our own. But, I must remind you that these letters are subject to editing for content and clarity, and must adhere to the guidelines listed in our “Respond, Refute, Reflect” box. But please don’t let this discourage you. We want to hear what you have to say, and I’ll bet you a Coke that others want to know your opinion too.

At the same time, I want welcome students to tell us what they like about “The Siskiyou,” and also what they don’t like. Tell us what you want to see, and yes, we know you all love reading the Security Log. Again, with this being a representative for what students care about, the only way we can make that happen is if you tell us.

With these suggestions, I don’t necessarily see them as always going into print, but I want to promise they will be taken into consideration. And if you want your suggestion not to be printed, just let us know, but keep in mind that we overlook anonymous letters.

With this welcoming of suggestion and a two-way communication strategy, I feel I must clarify the framework we adhere to in our weekly practices. As most of us on staff are preparing for a career in journalism, we follow a real-newspaper presentation, therefore only the suggestions that we see fitting into this template could be put into play. Doing so can only keep us on the track to striving toward professionalism, something I think we all want to see.

So, the phone lines are open (only in a figurative sense, because our voicemail seems to only work during leap years). Tell us what you have on your mind. We want to hear it. E-mail us at siskiyou@students.sou.edu.