Hey there. Notice anything different about the Opinion page? Hopefully you’ve grabbed your copy and noticed that fancy new word there? “Viewpoints?” Notice how it welcomes you, sits you down for tea and crumpets before crying exuberance at your delightful demeanor and cutting-edge fashion? You dashing rogue, you.

Alright, enough of the foot-rubbing and shameless self-promotion. You’re probably wondering what the heck Viewpoints is, right? Well, let me put your mind at ease and just tell you: Viewpoints is a new initiative from the opinion desk in an effort to expand our coverage of Iowa State University and the extremely diverse population that calls it home.

As students, we’re less than enlightened. As Iowans, we’re less than cutting-edge. As Americans, we’re less than perfect. You get the point. No matter how we try, some things are going to go completely unnoticed by us columnists. Similarly, some things we simply don’t have the proper exposure and/or knowledge of to adequately discuss them. This is why we created Opinion: Viewpoints.

Viewpoints takes the voice of the Ames and ISU community and gives it a proper home. Departments across campus have joined up with the Daily in an effort to give you, the reader, the most informed and highest quality coverage we can.

On Tuesdays, look for columns from Career Services. Send them your questions by checking out their Web site (listed at the end of their column you see today, no less) and you could become an integral part of future columns.

On Wednesdays, political science professor Steffen Schmidt offers his take on local, national and global politics. Schmidt has appeared multiple times on networks such as CNN and the BBC. His columns appear courtesy of http://www.insideriowa.com, Iowa’s online magazine.

On Thursdays, a duo team of the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Student Services present columns focused on tackling the issues of gender and sexuality.

On Fridays, the Thielen Student Health Center will inject advice, insight and a wealth of medical knowledge into its columns, which focus on everything you need to know to get the greatest, healthiest years out of your time at Iowa State.

Every day we hope more and more offices, departments and individuals will join these pioneers listed above. The more voices that contribute to the Daily, the better we can serve you, the reader, and the better we can represent the vast myriad of opinions present in our community.

But are we done? Oh no, of course not! There’s still you, the most important viewpoint of all.

Letters to the editor have found a new home in Opinion: Viewpoints, and more than ever, we encourage you to send us your feedback to let us know how we’re doing. Whether you agree or disagree with our very own student columnists or the Viewpoints columnists, let us know by sending an e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected]. You can also find an automated forwarding system on our Web site, iowastatedaily.net.

Welcome to Opinion: Viewpoints. Enjoy.

– Sophie Prell is the Opinion Editor and senior in journalism and mass communication from Alta, Iowa.