Opinion on the front page?

Regular readers of the Indiana Daily Student might have been surprised to see the front page of Friday's paper. Beneath the usual news stories, graphics and photos that took up the top three quarters of the page appeared a guest column written by Ozair M. Shariff, president of the IU Muslim Student Union. Shariff submitted an insightful piece regarding the recent controversy surrounding Danish cartoons that have offended many Muslims and led to protests and violence throughout the world. \nThe IDS routinely runs guest columns and letters to the editor on all sorts of different topics. But, as far back as recent memory extends, those opinions (as well as those of our own staff of columnists) have always been contained within the opinion section.\nSo why did we make an exception for this column? It began when IDS Opinion Editor Cordell Eddings pitched the piece for the front page at our daily budget meeting -- a session during which the editors convene to decide which stories make the front page and the order in which they appear.\nEddings pitched the story for inclusion on page one because he said he thought the column was important and needed the wider audience that the more prominent placement promised.\n"It was something that needed to be read because there were many people who feel like (Shariff) felt," Eddings said. "His analysis was well-researched and very personal."\nAfter the meeting, Editor in Chief Rick Newkirk and I each read the column and ultimately agreed with Eddings' stance. Shariff's piece went in-depth on an important issue, offered perspectives that had gone unreported both in the IDS and the national media, approached the controversy fairly and expressed opinions shared by a large portion of the student body. It also promoted a constructive dialogue on the issue, which seemed important given the amount of violence it has stirred around the world. \nOnce we decided to have the column on the front, we presented it in a manner that made it clear it was an opinion piece and not news. Given the rare appearance of columns on the front page, this was doubly important. In addition to adding a "tag" above it designating it as a guest column, we also ran the piece across the bottom of the page and with a bold line separating it from the rest of the copy. The headline was also italicized in order to further set it off from the rest of the page.\nWhile there are no immediate plans to run another column on page one, Shariff's piece demonstrates our front page can be a place for more than just hard news stories.