Claire Smith, currently a Senior Columnist and Copy Editor on permanent staff, has been elected as the next Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Texan.
Smith was elected with more than 70 percent of the vote, and will serve as Texan editor in the 2015-2016 school year.
“The cornerstone of my platform was a more inclusive Daily Texan. I think that the opinion section has not always reflected the diversity of opinion on campus, but that may be easily remedied,” Smith said.
“As the face of the Texan, I want to take a much more active recruiting role per semester by personally reaching out to political, social, and service organizations on campus, as well as the Graduate Students’ Assembly, to expand the opportunity to be heard in our pages across campus.
“My priority as the editor of the opinion section will be the creation and facilitation of an open forum where ideas can be debated, the diversity of campus opinion can be expressed, and consensus opinions can be challenged and defended, so that we as a community of students may ultimately grow stronger in our personal convictions.
”
Other key points she listed during the campaign:
- “A more inclusive opinion section will not inhibit the Editorial Board’s ability to take firm stances on issues that matter to our campus. We won’t have to look far in the news to find something that will affect our fellow students. Varying voices on the Editorial Board will create the greatest opportunity for fair representation. We will challenge ourselves and each other to think critically, argue intelligibly, decide reasonably, and write thoughtfully in our capacity as the official voice of Opinion.
- “I also want to increase the overall efficiency and morale of our office as well as the quality of our daily product.
- “To increase efficiency, I want to work with the Managing Editor and department heads to streamline our editing process. One place to start is institutionalizing online edits 48 hours prior publication (in departments that can implement such a timeframe) and in-person edits the day before. The Daily Texan is a business as well as a teaching newspaper. I believe expanding editing frameworks creates less opportunities for office back-up, more opportunities for teaching, and the greatest opportunity for us to do our best work. Though such an editing schedule may not be possible in some sections or with certain stories, I want to stress the need for efficiency as a threshold to our highest quality work.
- “To increase morale, I want to take a greater leadership role outside of the opinion office. It will be my policy and practice to avoid sending delegates to the Managing Editor’s daily budget meetings in order to forge close ties among our office’s leadership. I also aim to implement an “open door” policy to break Opinion’s traditional isolation. I believe being a more visible office presence will increase overall office morale by giving staff members another supportive leader in the office. The staff must know their Editor-in-Chief, and the paper’s leadership should strive to be united in the staff’s interest.
- “I am also interested in working with the Managing Editor and new Special Projects team to make the Texan more competitive online. While this has been an office goal for several years, the online world is constantly changing. I want to work with professionals to find concrete ways to help us move with the digital world.
- “The Texas Student Media Board recently secured a written promise from the President’s office for support annually for the next three years as well as a million-dollar endowment. As many of you know, the Texan has struggled financially since the digital revolution, and this support is a huge relief to the staff. However, I will not treat this cushion as an excuse to forget about the Texan’s financial crisis; instead, I choose to view the next three years as an opportunity to lay the groundwork for the Texan’s long-term financial health.
- ”Using the Texas Tribune as a model, I would like to work with the Texas Student Media Board to find viable, appropriate fundraising opportunities from grant-giving, non-profit organizations that support journalism and promote media innovation, such as the Knight Foundation. I can also assure you that I am not willing to pursue such fundraising efforts at any cost and certainly not at the cost of editorial independence. I will never accept support with editorial strings attached.”
And an additional note to alumni:
“Thankfully, my goals and vision resonated with the students of UT, and I was elected with 72.5% of the vote. As I hope you can tell, I have given a lot of thought to what I would like to do with my time as Editor-in-Chief. But the size of this enterprise is not lost on me. You all have invaluable experience in the Texan’s office, and of course what counts more, a dedication to keeping our publication up to the standards of our 115-year legacy. I look forward to meeting and working with you all in the next 15 months. Please feel free to reach out to me at any time, as I greatly value and respect your suggestions and hopes for the Texan.”