When in the course of human events a college newspaper gets a new editor-in-chief, or set thereof as the case may be, the expected thing is for the first editorial to set the goals and the tone for the coming term of office. We were quite looking forward to a hack at this. We had all of our slogans lined up and everything. But since our return, we have stumbled against a disturbing development. It is perhaps true that there could be few on this campus more eager to catch a whiff of official censorship than the neophyte editors of the ultrafeminist college news, but trust us. You can smell this from here.

It began innocently enough, with Julie's request that the college news web page be linked to the News page on the revamped Bryn Mawr web page, so that the outside world could see us. The Bi-College News is already linked there. Never seen ours? Youre not alone. We are on the Trico server, accessible to anyone on the three campuses who will take a little time to find us; this has hitherto meant accessible to us, a couple of our friends, Rabbi Rabeeya, and some guy named Dan. Naturally, we wanted exposure, and asked for an outside link.
Nancy Collins, the new director of public relations, then sent us her reply, an excerpt of which we include for you:

"We will be happy to make a link to the College's site but at the For Students page rather than the News page. My reasoning is twofold: First, The College News is primarily a literary rather than news vehicle, so people aren't going to find news if they go to it. Second, its audience is solely current Bryn Mawr students. The College's News page is designed to carry news and events of interest to a much broader audience, specifically, prospective students, their parents, alumnae, faculty, staff, our community neighbors and the media. It's my job to target specific messages to the appropriate audiences. Clearly, we have a long way to go in making the College's Web site a primarily externally focused medium. Putting The College News link at the College's News page only would only delay progress toward that end."

It may come as a surprise to alumnae, faculty and staff that they are not among the "appropriate audience" for the college news. It may also come as a surprise that, in terms of this campus and its publicity, the Bi-College News is more relevant than we are. While we respect the Bi-Co's coverage, we reflect unique elements of the Bryn Mawr campus that are quite as relevant, and should be accessible to prospective students considering this college, as well as the greater public.

Specs in particular (both students and faculty), who have since become frosh and professors of ours, mention the college news as a catalyst in their decisions to come here. The presence of Dykes to Watch Out For, not to mention the total openness of political and social philosophy found in the CN, is tremendously invigorating to those glimpsing the CN for the first time, at the end of the long dark tunnel of high school. Why are we, as a vehicle for open dialogue, brushed aside? Internalized misogyny? Contempt for undergraduate idealism? Whatever the reason may be, the college news has and will continue to uphold the ideals presented in our mission statement.
While some things may change over the next semester of our editorship, we will honor our traditions of editorial quality and the eternal pursuit of newsworthy journalism.

Last semester, with the last edition, we promised you revolutionary times. We may be idealistic, but we are not irrelevant, and we will not stand to be belittled. We ask of you, our loyal audience Ñ alumnae, faculty, staff and students Ñ to stand by us, not only with your readership, but also with your writing. This paper has never been, and never will be, solely the possession of the editors and staff who support it. Instead, please continually remember that we are a communal space, a place for you to voice your opinions and views. The college news is only what you make it. Together, we can aspire to revolutionary times and make it an interesting read for all.