Today’s issue marks a first for The Flat Hat and the College. The Flat Hat has faithfully served its readers at the College for over 96 years, publishing the campus’s best news and opinions every week during the school year. Beginning today, The Flat Hat will print twice each week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and will be available at locations across campus by 5 p.m.
p. With two issues each week, we’ll be able to deliver more relevant and timely news. The College is often tarred as sleepy and boring, but our campus is filled with interesting people and dramatic events. Whether these stories are funny and personal like That Guy, or national debates over weighty topics like religion and tradition, like our continuing coverage of the Wren cross controversy, they all play an important role in making our community what it is, and they should be reflected in the pages of the paper.
p. By expanding to twice weekly, we hope to make these stories more accessible. The College and the nature of news is becoming more and more immediate. People expect news to be available 24 hours a day, and it is high time that The Flat Hat adapted. Of the 34 top tier U.S. News and World Report schools with more than 5,000 undergraduates, only three others have student newspapers that print weekly.
p. The students at the College are some of the smartest in the country, and they deserve the chance to read and help produce a top-flight student newspaper. Now we do.
p. All of your favorite features will remain in the paper. Tuesdays will showcase the “Sports Feature,” an in-depth look at Tribe athletics on the back page, and the “From the Sidelines” sports column. On Fridays, you can look forward to the Reviews section, “That Guy” and “That Girl,” Kate Prengaman’s “Behind Closed Doors,” horoscopes and the “Homefield Advantage” sports column. The News, Opinions, Variety and Sports sections and Sudoku, Street Beat, Police Beat, Under the Microscope and Confusion Corner columns will run in every issue.
p. In order to make twice-weekly printing cost effective, there will be fewer copies of each issue printed, and they will be distributed at fewer locations. The paper will no longer be delivered to individual dorms or most academic buildings, but there will still be plenty of copies in public areas such as the University Center, the Caf, the Rec Center, Swem Library and the Campus Center. For a full listing of the new delivery locations, see our advertisement on page 3.
p. The new printing schedule allows us to offer more positions and opportunities to interested students. Writers, photographers, artists, editors and business managers are always welcome at The Flat Hat, and interested students should e-mail editor@flathatnews.com to set up a meeting. Any reader with a tip or story idea for the paper should e-mail news@flathatnews.com. We look forward to continuing to serve our readers by producing a professional, high quality newspaper of which the College can be proud.