About 800 students, faculty, staff, and alums responded, including a broad cross-section of ages and majors. We spent winter break dissecting the data and brainstorming improvements for The Towerlight, and several of those changes are premiering this week. Here's a sample of the comments and the changes:
A bigger, better calendar: A female graduate student said she wanted more information about what's happening on campus.
"I've seen lots of fliers posted about events, but few events announced in the calendar or Paw Prints," she wrote.
Beginning today, the Campus Calendar has tripled in size. "This Week at TU" is now located in the front of the newspaper, on page three.
A new page of puzzles and comics: Dozens of readers suggested that the newspaper add more puzzles and comics, to complement the crossword on page four.
Beginning Feb. 2, page four will feature a Sudoku puzzle and a couple of comics in every issue. (Don't worry about the crossword â€" it's not going anywhere.)
More national and international news: "There should be more news stories about national news. So many students here have no idea what's going on with our government," a sophomore EMF major wrote.
This semester, beginning Feb. 2, "Beyond Baltimore" will have a dedicated full-page space.
More opinion: One in four survey respondents said they wanted more opinion in the newspaper. "I want to see more opinion, more controversy, more issues that affect students and the Towson community," a freshman political science major wrote.
The Perspectives section now occupies pages 5 to 7, with more space than ever for commentaries, letters, and the ever-so-popular Word on the Street.
New columns: Many readers also asked for more news they can use. Every Thursday, the new "Starving Student" column will review a local eatery.
Also, a new music column will complement the popular CD reviews and concert schedules in Arts every Monday.
Recruitment: Several readers suggested that the newspaper recruit talented writers for certain specialties like theater reviews, political commentaries and religion coverage. Beginning today, the newspaper's recruitment ads will include specific categories.
Story Suggestions: A couple of readers also asked for a more efficient method of informing editors about upcoming events and possible news stories.
To this end, we've developed a Story Suggestion Form that is available in the Towerlight office (University Union Room 313) and on the Web (http://www.thetowerlight.com/pages/submit/)
This column is a new addition, as well. It will appear on page five in every issue. It is designed, in part, to explain how the newspaper works. (We'll delve into subjects like the sex and relationships column and coverage of minorities in upcoming editions.) The column will also provide a venue for all the interesting news nuggets that don't fit anywhere else in the paper. Keep reading!
Feedback: E-mail editor@thetowerlight.com, call (410) 704-5141, or visit http://www.thetowerlight.com/pages/letter/
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