The Stanford Daily Editorial Board represents the collective opinion of this newspaper. Our job is to weigh in on issues of pressing campus importance and to contribute a thoughtful, reasoned voice to current debates and discussions about Stanford life, politics and culture.

This year, the Board is undergoing significant changes, and we’d like to take the space below to explain them. In the past, the editor-in-chief selected a student to be the chair of the Editorial Board, who then selected other students to sit on the board. The entire Editorial Board was independent of The Daily’s staff. The Daily Editorial Board will now be comprised of a few select Daily staffers, though its meetings will be open to the entire staff and its opinions will represent those of the entire staff.

We feel that this shift in the Board’s composition will add clarity and coherence to our opinions and more effectively convey the sentiments of this paper. Our reporters and editors have unique access to University administrators, student government leaders, professors and others. We hope to leverage that access, along with the knowledge and experience of our reporters and editors, to present you with accountable and informed opinions.

The Editorial Board will consist of Daily executive editor Brendan O’Byrne, managing editor of opinions Miles Unterreiner, our managing editor of news Marwa Farag, managing editor of sports Miles Bennett-Smith, and the chair of the Editorial Board, editor in chief Billy Gallagher.

As we implement these changes, we shall seek to protect and maintain a few core values that countless Boards before us have shared. We will uphold this paper’s commitment to honest reporting, to fair and decent argument, and to thoughtful analysis of the issues that most affect our readers. We will fully research and vet our arguments. And we will present any opposing convictions in a charitable and balanced manner. The opinions we present in this space should be the start of conversations, not the definitive statement on a subject. We welcome opposing op-eds at [email protected].

When our work fails to meet these high standards, we expect you to let us know. The Stanford Daily is a student-run organization that is wholly independent from the University. This independence is crucial to our mission and though it gives us the ability to write and reason freely, it also makes us beholden to you, our readers. We expect you to let us know when we fail to meet the high editorial standards you expect from this newspaper, and we look forward to having conversations about the issues that most challenge Stanford and its students.