The Daily Tar Heel has been publishing editorials roughly since its inception in 1893. Editorials are written by the paper’s editorial board. The board is part of The Daily Tar Heel’s opinion desk, which also includes regular columnists and cartoonists.
The Editorial Board is comprised of 15 board members, plus The Daily Tar Heel’s opinion editor, assistant opinion editor and editor-in-chief. We meet twice a week in The Daily Tar Heel’s office to discuss the latest news and develop strategies to address these issues from an intersectional perspective.
Though we are independent from The Daily Tar Heel’s newsroom, we share a symbiotic relationship in that we almost always rely on their reporting to provide a foundation for our work. In short, we comment on the news that the newsroom reports.
Editorials are unsigned. They don’t reflect the opinion of any one person, but rather the consensus of the board as a whole, influenced by the values it has held for the past 127 years. Just as The Daily Tar Heel itself values truth and transparency, the Board values integrity, accountability, creativity and fairness. We control our values, but even more so, they control us, guiding and shaping the ways we address questions of Carolina’s future, past and present.
I think this passage from “Aim of the Paper,” written in 1932, summarizes well our perennial mission:
"It is the aim of The Daily Tar Heel to foster open-minded and genuine liberality, which will admit the possibility of two sides to every question. The Daily Tar Heel attempts to throw the weight of its influence toward those sides of questions of great moment, which in the opinion of the editorial control are more nearly right. It also holds its columns open always to the other side, with the single reservation that only the truth must be spoken."
The values we uphold have lasted for generations, and will decidedly endure far beyond the mere four years that any of us spend here. I like to think of the Editorial Board, and The Daily Tar Heel more generally, as harbingers of the public good here at UNC. The onus is uniquely on us to uplift the voices of those who are often forgotten or left behind by the University, and to pressure those in power to do what’s right.
I’m proud of the work we do, but I never want to take this platform for granted. The editorial board, too, is an institution in and of itself, and we have a responsibility to speak out on issues that affect the Chapel Hill community. As The Daily Tar Heel begins its 127th year, the board hopes you will continue to hold us accountable.
Send us your tweets, letters, emails and kvetches — dialogue is best when it isn't just one-sided. At the end of the day, The Daily Tar Heel belongs entirely to its readers. It always has.
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