Was this category rigged? Absolutely not — that would be a terrifying abuse of our positions as journalists, an utter disgrace to that which we hold in such sacred regard.
Now, was this category skewed by the volume of the Aggie staff and community who voted on it? Without a doubt, due in no small part to the staff size of The California Aggie.
It’s the people who make The California Aggie the best ASUCD unit — the passionate, hardworking students who dedicate what little free time they have to creating a newspaper from scratch. If any one of them didn’t do exactly what they needed to do, the paper would simply cease production.
It’s the people who stay up late finalizing a story; who drop everything to take photos of an emerging protest; who design the newspaper’s layout each week; who edit and fact-check every piece; who illustrate a graphic to complement a story. It’s the people who came together to fight for the survival of a print newspaper during a time when everyone seems to say that journalism is on its last legs.
Working at The California Aggie isn’t just a resume builder. The basement office of Lower Freeborn gives students the chance to learn firsthand what it’s like to be a journalist and to become part of a larger community, comprised of current staff and alumni. And the quotes on the wall are testament to all the strange things that go on down here.
I have never been more proud to be a part of anything in my entire life.
Bryan Sykes
Editor-in-Chief
Written by: Bryan Sykes — editor@theaggie.org
