A particularly nasty feedback to a Herald editorial last fall about accountable student government labeled me as "Badger Herald Rent-a-Cop Ben Thompson." Apparently the author, no fan of our editor in chief, was convinced I was merely the underling sent to enforce our editor’s wishes.

While I found the title amusing, I also knew it was entirely untrue. While the Editor-in-Chief and myself were in strong agreement on this particular issue, I have my own vision for the Herald in general and Herald editorials in particular.

The Herald was founded as a challenger to the liberal establishment in Madison — the true rebel to emerge from the Vietnam era. It was the audacity and fearlessness that defined the Herald, not necessarily the conservatism. I am convinced that had our paper been transplanted from UW to Texas A&M, it would have liberal, not conservative, roots.

This skepticism of the status quo has and will continue to define the Herald. Herald editorials should hold student government accountable, question just where students rank on the administration’s agenda and look for new solutions to this campus’ drinking problem.

Above all, the right to free speech must be championed, for without true intellectual diversity we can never discover why we believe what we believe. That is a truly dangerous place to be, especially if you are right.

As editorial editor, I lead daily editorial board meetings and coordinate and edit each editorial, in addition to the weekly column I have penned since fall 2000. I am a senior majoring in political science and will graduate in May.