Yesterday, however, we jumped the gun on some facts. Regarding the census, we stated that it should be up to each student to choose where they’re from on the survey. It came to our attention after publication that not only would it be misleading for an MSU student not to put “East Lansing” as their place of residence — it’s technically illegal. We at The State News are all for students having fun, but we regret unintentionally advocating for them to break the law.

The process of how we write and research our editorials is, unfortunately, open to holes and misinformation. Every few days, we sit down as a board and discuss several topics and stories that affect the MSU and East Lansing communities. We always try to come to the most informed position possible, but due to time constraints, deadlines and youthful inexperience, we sometimes miss crucial information that regrettably makes its way into editorials.

We’ve recognized that our process lends itself to these flaws, and we take those flaws seriously. Untrue facts and misleading articles aren’t tolerated in other sections of our newspaper, and we are striving to make sure that the opinion section is held to the same standard of accuracy. We are putting steps in place to fix our editorial writing process so that we can continue to present valid arguments based on verified facts. Anything less is an insult to our readers.

Our readers might not always agree with our stance in many editorials, but they should never doubt that they are based on sound reasoning and facts. There should be no doubt that the information presented on the opinion page is held to the same standard of quality that readers of The State News have come to expect.

We acknowledge the numerous readers who called, wrote letters and commented on our Web site to inform us of our error. Again, we try to tell the truth, and tell it by making as few mistakes as possible. But sometimes, when the watchdog for the community slips up, we need watchdogs ourselves. Make no mistake, having an intelligent and informed readership is something we constantly appreciate.

When students turn to the opinion page, they should expect informed and intelligent debate based on facts, not assumptions. We apologize for our mistake and we’re going to do our best each day to provide information and opinions that encourages such debate, making as few mistakes as possible.

And make no mistake — we’ll be doing our homework.