It’s easy to take things for granted. Every day we go through our methodic, uneventful routines, taking for granted classes, jobs and friends.

Here at the Daily, we put out a paper every Sunday through Thursday night. We decide what goes into the paper every day – a photo of two gay men kissing, a story about porn shops in Ames.

Whether this content is viewed as conservative, liberal or just plain dumb, what’s important is that it is our choice.

This past week seven Daily editorial staff members and myself were reminded how much freedom we have during the College Media Advisors conference in New Orleans.

The yearly conference brings together student journalists from across the country for four days of seminars, job interviews and national awards, which are a highlight of the event.

Besides being a great opportunity to meet and make friends with other student journalists, the conference is also an opportunity for Daily staffers to step back and look at where we are in the world of college newspapers.

Emphasis on “diverse.”

As one of the larger college newspapers in the country, we have some perks others don’t enjoy – color on our front page every day, special sports and A&E sections and a staff that’s salaried instead of volunteer. (Yes, some people work more than 30 hours a week on their college newspaper without pay.)

But one of the biggest advantages we have compared to many college papers, particularly those at smaller, private schools, is that we are independent of the university – in other words, President Geoffroy doesn’t decide what we put in the Daily.

The Daily’s staff – students the same age as many of our readers – dictate the content of the Daily.

This may seem like a “duh” kind of statement, but it does set us apart from many other colleges around the country.

At some schools the president or another administrator reviews every page of the paper before it’s printed. If there’s a story they don’t like, they can pull it off the page.

They are allowed to censor the news because the paper belongs to the school. If administrators don’t like a story critical of the basketball team, they can pull it.

If they don’t like an article about gays or abortion, they can pull it. If a story has cuss words or some other kind of vulgarity, they can pull it.

So much for “watchdog” journalism, not to mention the First Amendment.

These papers sometimes come very close to being a public relations rag for their school, usually to the dismay of students working on them.

The Daily, on the other hand, can write about anything it wants, taking whatever angle it wants. All it has to have is the facts to back its stories up.

The people up in Beardshear Hall might not always be happy about what we have to say, but they can’t stop us from saying it. The same goes for the Government of the Student Body, the city of Ames and the state Legislature.

That’s a lot of power on a college campus – and we respect and recognize the responsibility that goes with it.

The Daily is here for the ISU community, to be its voice, its channel of communication. Few college students experience this freedom.

Don’t take it for granted.

Andrea Hauser is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Edgewood. She is editor in chief of the Daily.