It has come to the attention of the editorial board that more and more organizations on campus expect The Daily Campus to act as a public relations platform for the various causes and concerns on campus.

Even more shocking is the continued abuse inflicted on DC staffers by the administration and academic departments that demand press coverage of their events but are told no.

Yes, the DC is here to inform the SMU community of the “happenings” and “going-ons” on campus, but we cannot guarantee PR for every event sponsored by every department or organization. For one, there is not enough space in the paper to include every flier posted on campus. Contrary to popular belief, the paper’s size is not determined by the amount of news ready to be published that day, but by the amount of advertising sold.

In addition, we are not constantly beating eager writers out of the newsroom with sticks. Most days, a core group of ten students produces the paper. That includes writing, copy editing and layout. Think about the average student’s course load … now add an additional 10 hours a day, Monday – Thursday. That’s what we do, and there is no way we can cover every event.

Now, if your organization is preparing for an event, we’ll be more than ecstatic to take any information you can give us. But we cannot guarantee coverage. The events calendar on page two is a great place to inform the campus about what’s coming up on your schedule, but even that is limited on space. The DC reserves the right not to run any requests that do not provide the place, date, time or contact information for the event, nor will we print any information we are unsure of due to illegible handwriting.

If you want to guarantee your event is publicized just the way you want it, buy an advertisement. But if it’s free advertising you are looking for, then you’ve come to the wrong place.