Williams College's present excrement crisis (see News, page 2) has given us cause to evaluate the condition of our own excess of excretion. While our waste problem is not a biological hazard, it does pose a threat to our intellectual growth. All too often The Amherst Student succumbs to verbal excrement-the kind you use in your humanities papers when you've exhausted all of your ideas.

As the new staff of The Student, we are committed to purging our pages of the redundant, uncritical filler that intrudes all too often. We aspire to provide you with more substance, to be more responsive to our readers' interests and to take advantage of our role as a forum for intellectual discourse. so that we can continue to effect positive change.

We plan to offer more comprehensive, probing and accurate news and sports coverage, more compelling, innovative feature articles and more edifying opinion pieces. Expect a refreshed, more reader-friendly visual presentation as well.

To our predecessors: thank you for your guidance and patience and for the late nights you spent correcting our countless mistakes. You've taught us well and we hope to carry on your legacy in a way that will make you proud.