Last week, the names you see to your left officially became the Yale Daily News Managing Board of 2005. In the course of becoming the 126th group of students to direct editorial and business operations of the nation’s oldest college daily, we often discussed our vision for the News, asking ourselves what its role on campus should be.

In past years, perhaps, the answer has been clearer. Past boards have inherited the News already anticipating major stories — early decision, labor negotiations and the academic review. But we find ourselves without many defining issues looming on the news horizon. It is not that we foresee no news, but, at this point, we cannot predict the cornerstone issues that will inevitably come to shape our year’s coverage. For now, this seems to be a time of waiting and anticipation. Nineteen months of contract negotiations have finally ended and we wait to see what comes of the myriad promises made by both the University and the unions. We wait to see what comes of the long-anticipated academic review proposals when they are officially presented to the faculty in November or what will come of last year’s administrative reshuffling.

The world beyond Yale’s heavy iron gates is no more certain. We await developments in post-war Iraq and follow the machinations accompanying the beginning of another presidential election. We watch to see how the world tries to reconcile the paradox of being divided into more and more factions while being drawn even closer together by the forces of globalization. On campus alone there is ample evidence of globalization: President Levin’s trip to China next month, Yale’s dedication to international recruiting, the University’s continued investment in the Center for Globalization.

As the Yale Daily News, we have always been fortunate to cover a community where the news often makes itself. But as our community increasingly reflects the world beyond the infamous college bubble, so too do our pages.

Perhaps that is what makes sitting back to see what each day brings us so disconcerting. We are ever conscious of our dual roles as journalists and as students. While as journalists we may sometimes be forced to wait for the news, as students — and as citizens — we find this to be an unsettling approach, especially in a world characterized by so much uncertainty. We feel we are a part of the events we cover, more than merely being observers waiting to dash off a few thousand words after they occur.

Earlier this year, some of us briefly wished that it could be our board that published the issue announcing the end of this fall’s strike. As journalists, we would have loved to be in charge of directing that coverage. But then we thought of the possibility of the strike continuing until October, until today, and we immediately changed our minds. As students, the idea of such a long strike was unbearable.

And so, given the events that dominated the coverage of the Board of 2004 — a war, a car crash, two strikes — we hold our breath and almost hope for an uneventful year. And yet, we know it can’t be, and must prepare ourselves as journalists to cover it, and as students, to be a part of it.