The library quad has been packed with people and booths since the first day of school, and like every semester it will stay full until the clubs and the Greek organizations have had their fill of new applicants.

I took a few moments this week to check out the different groups that are vying for students’ already scarce time when I realized that I had stopped next to a booth promoting the accounting club. Yes, we have an accounting club on campus, and I found them diligently adding new members to their ranks.

As I looked around I thought about The State Hornet’s role on our campus. Readers have expressed their concerns to me regarding the adequacy of the paper’s coverage. The goal of any publication is to serve its specific audience. As an editor, I have always felt that there are enough events directly related to a university to preclude a majority of the national events that are covered. The question of coverage is one of perspective.

If I asked Sacramento State football coach Steve Mooshagian what he thought about the Hornet’s news coverage, I’m confident his remarks would be complimentary. If I asked student government officers their thoughts on Hornet coverage, a likely response would be “more than enough.”

And I can already hear the folks at the Accounting Society booth, “What coverage?”

Few interest groups within a publication’s audience will ever be satisfied with the amount or type of coverage they receive in print. And that is where The State Hornet needs your help. Our audience hovers around 30,000 strong, and frankly, the Hornet doesn’t have enough resources to get your story, the one that interests you.

As a college publication the Hornet must depend on its readers for help. And I’m asking you now. A television news magazine used to run a segment where the reporter would travel to a town, pick up a phone book and randomly pick a name. He would go to the residence and interview the occupants. He believed that everyone in America had an intriguing story to tell ?” and he was right.

With the diversity on a college campus, this couldn’t be more true. Every reader has a story, and many of those stories will go untold if you don’t throw us a bone. An e-mail, a call to the newsroom or even an anonymous note at the front desk will suffice. All we need is a lead. The reporters will do all the heavy lifting from there.

I will be here to field your questions and concerns about the paper, but I’m also the window into your paper. I’m here to pass on your suggestions on content and style as well.

Stand up and own your college newspaper. It’s funded, in part, by your fees and you have the right to comprehensive campus coverage.

Now I wonder what the Accounting Society is up to this weekend.

Andy Jensen can be reached at [email protected]