Welcome back to all the members of the Stony Brook community! A busy and exciting year awaits us.

A new group of editors has taken over responsibility of the Statesman and we promise to continue our tradition of providing relevant and important news to the student body. We will continue our timely coverage of campus, local and national news, sports, features and arts ‘ entertainment.

This semester the Statesman will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary, which will provide us with an opportunity to introduce exciting new changes to the paper. In addition to the new website which has already doubled the amount of traffic we see on a daily basis, we have added blogs and podcasts to our lineup. In the coming months, we will also be providing videos for the paper.

Perhaps our most exciting new feature is our launch of a Statesman magazine to supplement the paper, combining in-depth articles with creative fiction writing and photography from the students and faculty at Stony Brook University.

2008 promises to be a year filled with crucial news stories. And the Statesman will be there throughout to help keep you on informed. We thank you for your continued support and it gives us immense pleasure to provide these new additions to you the reader.