Raise your voice, I'm listening

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brian F. Hartz. I'm a new graduate student here at the the School of Journalism, and I have a confession to make: I might be partly to blame for Bob Knight's recent dismissal as IU men's basketball coach.\nBut before assembling the firing squad, hear me out. If you believe in karma, fate, voodoo, dumb/bad luck, Nietzsche's theory of eternal recurrence or some other form of mystical and/or metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, then yes, I might have had something to do with Knight's termination. \nYou see, I attended Manchester College as an undergraduate, and just before my freshman year at that institution, Steve Alford, another popular and beloved Indiana Hoosier, resigned as head coach of the MC men's basketball team. \nFlash-forward to the present: I've been here in Bloomington for less than a month, and Coach Knight ' the man, the myth, the legend ' has been told to take a hike. Coincidence? A curse? Black magic? Too much free time on my hands? You decide. But please, tell the bounty hunters to be gentle.\nAnyway, getting back to the point of this column (introducing myself), I am the IDS Ombudsman. "The Om-buds-what?" you probably just asked yourself. Ombudsman ' it's a fancy way of saying "critic." \nBasically, my job involves acting as a liaison between you, the IDS readers, and the reporters, editors, photographers and designers of the IDS. I'm not really part of the IDS editorial staff. I exist in a sort of platonic netherworld or neutral zone, located somewhere between the IDS and its readers. In fact, I don't even see the IDS until it hits the newsstands. After I've read and critiqued the newspaper, I then tell the staff what they did well and what they can do to improve.\nAnd what exactly gives me the right to direct such criticism toward the staff? Well, I know a little something about the world of journalism, both collegiate and professional. While studying at Manchester, I was the editor in chief of Oak Leaves, the campus newspaper, for two years. I've worked for the Wabash, Ind., Plain-Dealer, the North Manchester, Ind., News-Journal and the LaGrange, Ind., Standard-News (my hometown newspaper). I've also worked for a radio station and a public relations office ' both of which don't really relate to the ombudsman job, but hey, potential employers might be reading, so I might as well cram my entire resume into this paragraph while I'm at it. (References available upon request.)\nHowever, being an ombudsman involves more than just marking up the newspaper with the proverbial red pen. Although the IDS pays me to act as a critic, a conscience and a counselor, my main objective is to help its readers by fielding and answering comments and complaints. I have a special e-mail address ' idsombud@indiana.edu ' that's been specifically set up to serve as an inbox for your thoughts, suggestions and criticisms regarding what you've read (or haven't read, but would like to).\nSo speak up, speak out and raise your voice; I'm listening. If you don't, then I'll have to use this space each week to expound upon nihilism, Ralph Nader, the Detroit Tigers or another one of my many inane and absurd pet topics. \nAnd no one wants that.\nIf I receive enough feedback on a particular topic, I may use this space to explain and comment on the way the IDS covered and reported it. If the IDS doesn't cover something I think deserves coverage, I might write about that. Who knows? The only certainty is that to succeed, this newspaper needs to hear from its readers. You've heard it before and you'll hear it again, but the IDS is your newspaper. Help us make it everything you want it to be.\nOh, and that Bob Knight thing I mentioned at the beginning of this column? Yeah, just forget about that. It's nonsense. Really.