THE ISSUE: As the Downing University Center renovations continue, our campus is in the midst of a major change and with that has come major construction, building swaps and confusion.

OUR STANCE: The College Heights Herald has made changes, too, and has undergone a reconstruction of our own —all in the name of bringing better news and visuals to students.

By now students have arrived onto campus, into their dorms and settled into their apartments. Classes are under way and “syllabus days” are coming to an end. It is time for work, and if there is anything apparent looking around campus, it’s that there is a lot of work going around.

Construction is the biggest topic coming into the semester. The Herald is going through major changes, too.

Many may notice that our paper has been redesigned into a bolder, more expressive format. The new front page allows for more color and more previews of inside content. Our masthead has been rebranded, and we are looking to make the paper appear as fresh as ever. The redesign, however, is not the only change.

This semester we will be implementing a Friday political page to keep students up to speed and informed on the 2012 presidential and state elections. The page will contain campaign news, an expert’s corner, weekly student face-offs on each topic, and all the info we can fit onto a newspaper page. Students can continue to share news and opinions online as we urge you to use the #chhpolitics hashtag to tweet how you feel about the upcoming elections.

The political page is not the only new introduction for the paper, as the other sections of the papers will be implementing new changes as well. The news section will be branching out from hyperlocal news to bigger issues and national happenings.

Our diversions staff has expanded as well with a fashion column, financial column and movie reviews. The staff will continue to feature students doing unusual, extraordinary, and interesting things. This semester, we also look to cover more topics that relate to the lifestyle of a college student.

Our photo staff is looking to gain a stronger online presence with deeper stories. We will also be increasing multimedia video pieces that bring a new dynamic to the storytelling that takes place on our campus.

Our sports staff will continue to bring you quality game coverage, of both home and road games. We will feature more of our WKU athletes and implement “Toppers in the Pros” that will cover and keepsup with Hilltopper athletes as they continue their professional sports careers.

Overall, the Herald looks to be more responsive, with more range, and more depth. We look to utilize our online presence even more with polls, Storified Twitter stories and a new commenting section on our website. Comments on our wkuherald.com website have been connected to Facebook so that users no longer have to log on to the site to share their opinions with us. We are a paper run entirely by students with our own editorial independence.

Our mission is to cover as much of WKU’s campus as possible with the most accurate and relevant news. However, it is a two-way street.

We will strive to bring news to WKU students and we hope that you will give us feedback as a result. If there is anything going on that you think would make an interesting or impactful story, send it our way. With this many students on campus, there are numerous stories that remain untold. We don’t want to see that happen.

Things are changing — the Herald included — but unlike campus construction, we are looking for it be a smooth transition. As we strive to get the conversation going, we look forward to your input. After all, this is your paper, too.

This editorial represents the majority opinion of the Herald’s 14-member editorial board.