Start reading below the crease ... please

Do you read below the crease in Commentary? From our experience as members of the editorial board last semester it seems many of you don't.

Every week we run a gray box somewhere in this section that details how to submit a letter to the editor. Maybe it's the gray. Maybe it looks like an ad. Whatever it is, most of you seem unfamiliar with that little box.

So if you are thinking about writing a letter to the editor, please read this. Cut it out. Memorize it. It will ensure that your words make it to these pages.

You will notice that some of these rules contradict practices we have accepted in the past. All these rules are, however, rules we have had in the past. This is an attempt to enforce our rules consistently. We are looking forward to an interesting and exciting semester in Commentary. Pick up your pens, get your fingers moving, and send us a letter.

• Letters to the editor and essays are due by 4:30 Wednesday afternoons. You can submit a letter through e-mail, campus mail or drop it by our office in the basement of Burton. However, if you bring it to the office be sure to make sure a Commentary editor got it. A call to the office to double-check that we received a letter never hurts.

• Include your phone number and any title you want to accompany your name with your letter.

• Be prepared to confirm your letter. As policy we must receive confirmation of every letter we receive, either in person, by phone or over e-mail. If you have submitted a letter to the Review, and haven't heard from anyone by Thursday night, it might be a sign your letter was lost along the way. Give us a call.

• We must have at least one name on a letter but no more than six. Letters cannot be attributed to student organizations or groups unless there is at least one individual's name on the letter. We cannot attribute letters to more than six people.

• We do not accept anonymous letters.

• Letters cannot be longer than 600 words. This rule has been broken more than it has been followed in recent semesters. However, we plan to enforce it from now on.

• You cannot use your letter to advertise. Letters are not the place to advertise for a meeting you're organizing or recruit new members to your group. While you certainly can discuss what you do and why you do it, the objective should be broader than simply recruiting people to your event. Submit that sort of information to our community or arts calendars, not the Commentary section.

• We publish every letter we receive. If a letter follows all the guidelines set out above it will be published. The editorial board never rejects a letter based on its content.

• Essays are not just long letters. Essays are longer pieces with a broader and more analytical perspective. While a letter is about an immediate concern, essays can address broader questions. The word limit for an essay is 1,000 words. The Review editorial staff retains the right to determine that a piece submitted as an essay should be edited into a letter.

The editorial board of the Review includes Commentary Editors Jeff Little and Amie Ely, Managing Editor Zach Williamson and Editors in Chief Abby Person and Susanna Henighan.