I’m in charge here now.

That’s right folks, there’s a new opinion editor in town.

I’m a little nervous given the seemingly endless controversy that this section seems to produce every year, but as a guy who was mainly a sports reporter and editor for the last two years, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to work with opinionated and analytical writers.

I have opinions of my own — as do many of you I’m sure — but the majority of us don’t express them all that often.

My hope is that the opinion section breaks down some barriers to discussion this year, and allows everyone to have their say.

And I’m not just saying that because it’s the cliché thing to say. We’re going to go beyond just putting your letters in the paper.

We’re going to continue to run Free Speech Friday, where the entire opinion section that day is open for students, faculty and staff to respond to what we’ve run in the paper over the week.

We’re also going to run more columns on UW-related issues because of the more direct effects they have on students and the University. We’ll also do our best to talk to students and faculty to better understand different points of view when writing a column.

In addition to UW-related columns, we’ll have columns addressing subjects like science, technology, the environment, politics, international relations and a bevy of others.

And in an effort to truly make this a representative opinion section, we are reaching out to professors and staff to get guest columns and other content.

So yeah, the opinion section might look — apart from the amazing design changes — a little different this quarter.

It’s our way of trying to start anew and reach out to the campus with some different ideas.

That’s right folks, there’s a new opinion editor in town.

Now do your part and respond to what we write.

Give us hell.

Allen Wagner, Opinion Editor