Now & Then

Dear Reader,

Thanks for taking a look at our Reader's Guide to The Chronicle, which we've put together for a couple of purposes. For one, we want to commemorate our 30th anniversary of daily publication. As Jason's page-3 story and the letter by 1968 Chronicle editor Alan Ray (below) explain, it was neither an easy transition nor an easy historical time. I can't help but envy Alan's experience; activism, I believe, is alive and well at the University, but it exists in a very different form in the late 1990s. I can only guess at all the profound logistical and cerebral challenges-to say nothing of the drama-that would come with publishing through the Vietnam war or the black boycott of Durham businesses or the Nixon versus Humphrey presidential election.

The 30th anniversary of daily publication isn't the only one we're commemorating at The Chronicle this year; it's also five years since we incorporated.

Perhaps even more important to our self-conception than our status as a daily, the fact that we are independent ensures that our journalistic endeavors are not influenced, jeopardized or compromised by any administrative or financial responsibilities to the University.

Independent status also means that we're entitled to full protection provided by law, including the freedom of the press. Much like our country's 30 other independent college dailies, our independent, non-profit corporation, The Duke Student Publishing Company, maintains an operating agreement with the University that spells out this relationship.

We've also designed this publication to give you a look into how our paper operates. Jaime's centerspread story offers you a narrative account of that attempt. Later, pages 6 and 7 break our operations down into an itemized format. I call your attention in particular to the entries about how to contact us with story ideas; we are intently interested in working with you on developing story ideas for news or issue-oriented articles, and we've tried to provide you with plenty of entry points into our paper, which is, of course, only ever as good as the quality of copy we're able to generate.

The final purpose of this publication is to help potential staffers think through why they might want to make The Chronicle a significant part of their Duke experience. Anyone whose interested is piqued by this publication-some of our undergraduate staffers did not join until their junior or senior year-should consider attending our Friday, September 4 open house. At 5:30, we're asking all those interested in reporting to come visit. A little earlier, at 4:45, we're inviting prospective staffers interested in layout, design, photography, graphics online, layout, technical and creative pursuits to come up to our offices in 301 Flowers (we'll put out signs providing directions from the West Campus bus stop). We hope most people will attend both segments. If you can't make the open house or are reading this after it has passed, just call or e-mail; we take on new staffers throughout the year.

Thanks so much for your interest, and we hope you enjoy the pages that follow.