After our rather abrupt hiatus at the beginning of the semester, many members of the student body might be shocked to come across this issue of The Buchtelite on stands.

Due to many uncontrollable circumstances, we have been forced to take a break from publishing, missing out on what has proven to be a very newsworthy semester at The University of Akron. This special fall housing guide issue is just one of the many steps we are taking to re-establish The Buchtelite on campus. However, we as a staff still have a long way to go until we will be fully up and running again.

It’s no secret that The Buchetlite has faced its fair share of challenges and issues in the past. Our inability to move forward as a publication stems from the lack of staffing on our editorial and business staffs. We have struggled to keep students employed and to hire new students to fill the positions required to keep The Buchtelite publishing. Currently, we have a need for an editor-in-chief, section editors, copy editors, reporters, designers, artists, photographers, videographers and advertising representatives.

Aside from our staffing issues, we are also struggling to gain the interest of our students. The Buchtelite hasn’t been able to properly connect with and gain the attention of many students on campus. This, combined with the challenge facing all newspapers in the digital age, has limited us immensely, and has left us with quite a challenge as we attempt to move forward.

Our hiatus has given us the opportunity to begin reinventing ourselves as a publication to better suit the needs of our audience, as well as the time needed to solve our staffing issues. At the start of the 2014 spring semester, a committee called the Media Advisory Committee was formed to help The Buchtelite get back on its feet. At the initial meeting, it was decided that the best way to reach out to our students for input was to create a survey.

Details about this survey will be released through Zipmail on March 7. The online survey will become available to all University of Akron students starting March 10 and will remain open for two weeks. Students who participate in this survey will become eligible to win one of 10 gift cards of their choice, each worth $50, from the gift cards listed at gianteagle.com.

The feedback we receive from this student survey is crucial for our future. From the survey, we are hoping to gain some insight as to what our students want to read about and how they would prefer to receive their campus news. This will hopefully allow us to create better content in the future and help us decide whether a more web-based publication, a print publication or a combination suits our students’ needs best.

However, discovering what our students want to read and how to distribute the news is only half of the battle. The Buchetlite is only as strong as its staff. We need students to fill our vacant positions to help us regain a strong presence on campus. We are hoping to build a staff both on the business and the editorial sides of our publication that has the ability to move forward and generate the content needed. Any student interested can fill out an online application at bit.ly/1fbjzz7 or, if you want more details, call The Buchtelite at 330-972-5475 and leave your name and contact information.

The Buchtelite has been around for 125 years and it’s important that it continues to be a part of The University of Akron not just for current students, but for future students as well. The Buchtelite offers students an invaluable experience that can provide them with the skills needed to obtain a job or internship after college, regardless of their future career fields. It also presents students with a fun and unique opportunity to become involved on campus and to have their voices heard.

With help and input from the university and its students, we are hoping to be able to come back as a stronger, more valuable news source for The University of Akron and its students.