As fall approaches, Eastern has been going through some changes — a sort of regrowth — and so has The Easterner. Welcome back, Eagles, and a very big welcome to the freshmen and new transfers.

You have in y our hands what will soon be the past of The Easterner. After issue two, this paper will feel and look completely different. Think The Inlander, but with EWU flare. My team and I are working very hard to put this together for the students of Eastern and the surrounding community and we are very excited for it to go to print.

With this new design comes new opportunities for articles. Throughout the year, The Easterner will feature longer, more extensive articles. Our online site, theeasterner.org, will contain breaking news, up-to-date sports and shorter stories that deserve more of a spot online.

We will also be working on special issues, based on specific topics; one of the first students can look forward to will be our sex issue.

My jump to make the switch to a tabloid comes at a time when print is heading out and is being taken over by the Internet. I want to show students that print can be just as great, but to do that, the physical size of the paper has to shrink and the over all functionality has to change. Anyonewho has picked up a tabloid-like paper knows it reads like a big, floppy book and a whole table is not needed to unfold it.

This new layout is just one of the changes happening at The Easterner. Throughout the year, readers of our online site will see improvements. Better functionality and readability will be the focus of these improvements.

Every year, the editor-in-chief of The Easterner takes a different route than the one previous. This year, I am taking the editor-in-chief position out of design and layout and putting it into writing. My focus will be on the governments that make the decisions on this campus and with that I will be covering any discrepancies that follow them.

On a final note, while we are excited to give students and the community a new layout for The Easterner, we have also been low on staff. So, The Easterner is hiring.  We are looking for writers, page designers, graphic illustrators, copy editors and photographers. Interested students should apply on EagleAXIS or email me directly at [email protected] with an attached résumé and cover letter.

We at The Easterner are extremely excited to share with you this new layout, but for now, enjoy the old paper.