I’ve worked at the Daily a few years now and every year surveys are conducted where we find that though news and opinion rank among the most popular sections of the Daily, nothing beats the crossword. Undoubtedly, if you scan any lecture class you will find a “crossworder.”

I take two things from this. First, students are not being challenged in the classroom. Second, they are seeking a challenge from this newspaper. It is my hope that these pages can provide that challenge. We will be controversial. Not for the sake of circus but for the sake of furthering debate. We will make you question your beliefs. American democracy and the Constitution is on a magic carpet that’s threadbare and losing altitude fast. We’re going to exercise our rights while we still have them. You can exercise yours by sending us a letter or column. If you have an opinion on anything, we’ll try to get it printed.

Too many classrooms on this campus are void of any reality except that of an absurd educational bureaucracy. What idiots we are to worry about the petty details of a syllabus when the world around us, this city of Minneapolis, bustles with the fervent heart of progress, near fearlessness, and the people of Minnesota are more likely to be stewards than selfish consumer droids. This college campus, however, is too tied down to paper deadlines and disconnected lectures. The University must make itself more important to the lives of average Minnesotans. This campus must also realize that movements on this campus are part of a national struggle.

I’ve learned that if you speak out on injustice in Minnesota, people will step forward to try to help, while writing heartless papers for careless professors is a waste of time.

I can easily say our columnists will be the best we’ve had in years. John Hoff escaped from the earthen caves of North Dakota. You’ll question his sanity until you realize that you should really be questioning your own. Mat Koehler will make you choke on your toast with a neo-Swiftian wit and Casanova charm. Abby Bar-Lev will let you know that feminism is not just a pocket term for Liberal Arts students. Adri Mehra will make you realize that New York is nothing but a stale and rotting burrito and Chicago nothing but a prickly town full of prickly people because Minneapolis is where it’s at. Nate Paulsen’s got the shimmy on campus movements. Darren Bernard will highlight that liberals are hypocrites and probably should have been spanked more as children. Dianna Fu might be a name of a martial art or a person offering important perspective into perception. Our cartoonist and illustrator Adam El Rashidi uses ink like Rocky used his fists. Expect the editorial board to be scrappy and have ears and a mouth for University issues.

Minnesota Student Association president Emily Serafy-Cox, University President Bob Bruininks and Minnesota Daily Editor in Chief Britt Johnsen will be giving you the lowdown once a month. as well as guest columnists that you may recognize from elsewhere.

I’ll be taking most of the heat. I welcome it. It’ll make the winter more tolerable. We’re trying to push the boundaries. Push the boundaries with us. Send us columns of 420 words or less or 650-800 words. Send them to my e-mail: [email protected].

We’re not fools. We’re going to try and change the world. We’ll have fun with it too.

Karl Noyes is the Editorials and Opinions editor. Please send comments to [email protected].