FEB. 26, 2003, was both the day I was most ashamed to be a University student and most proud to be a member of the staff of The Cavalier Daily. Around 2 a.m. that morning, we received a call stating that Student Council presidential candidate Daisy Lundy had been assaulted behind the West Lawn.
Only a few members of our staff were there (I was not one of them), and they were just leaving, as the day's paper had already been sent electronically to the printer. No one would have blamed them if they had decided to go home and waited to report on the story for the following day's paper. Once the sun came up, they all had classes to attend and another day of Cavalier Daily work ahead of them, making the prospect of spending the entire night talking to sources and banging out an article far from desirable. But they decided not to go home, and instead, without any more recognition than a byline and a photo credit, made sure that when students woke up the next morning an article on our Web site carried the news.
One of the cruel ironies of journalism is that the best reporting often comes out of the worst circumstances. I vividly remember being angry and scared that day, but I also remember the feeling of pride when I saw students at the Commerce School bus stop passing out printouts of our article. In retrospect, some members of our staff question the precise content of that article, but to me it is not the content that is significant. Rather, it is the spirit that article embodied. The student body heard news they desperately needed to hear that day because a small group of Cavalier Daily staff members decided their roles with the paper and their obligation to the University community required them to get the story out.
Looking back, what makes me proud is not that those staff members went above and beyond what was expected of them, but quite the opposite. What makes me proud is that they did what any of us would have done. In fact, they did what just about anyone who has been at the paper for any length of time has done on a lesser scale -- they put the paper and the readers we serve ahead of themselves. Over the past year I have seen Chris, Becky, Leah and Kara spend hundreds upon hundreds of often thankless (and often incredibly rewarding) hours trying to make the paper better, just like the managing board before them and the managing board before that. I have seen staff members in every department who worked their tails off to make the paper the best it could be. And I've seen Sharon, our office manager, come to work in spite of ailments that would have kept a lesser person at home.
My purpose in saying all of this is not to claim that The Cavalier Daily is perfect or to bemoan the fact that we don't get the respect we deserve. Some members of the staff might get tired of hearing people complain about us, but I don't. To the contrary, the level of dedication that we show to this paper is all the more reason for you, the readers, to hold us to the highest possible standards.
Part of the reason we work so hard is because days like that Feb. 26 build a sense of loyalty to the paper. Part of the reason is that we genuinely believe in the importance of keeping the University community informed. But a big part of the reason is that there are few things scarier than screwing up in front of 10,000 people -- people who will let you know if you get something wrong.
While our goal is to hold University administrators, student leaders, state legislators and just about everyone else accountable, it is your job to hold us accountable. Your criticisms are a large part of what drives us to get better. So please write us when we misquote you or spell your name wrong. Tell us when we didn't cover your event or forgot to publish your ad. Complain when our opinion columnists say something racist. We won't take it personally, and we'll still do our best to cover the news -- even if it's two in the morning.
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