Policy for Letters to the Editor

The decision on whether a letter is printed in the Reporter is made by the editor based on the following general policy:

The Reporter welcomes letters from UB faculty, staff and students that comment on its stories and content, as well as other matters of concern and interest to the university community. Letters should be limited to 800 words and may be edited for style and condensed for length. Letters must be received by 9 a.m. Monday to be considered for publication in that week's issue. The Reporter prefers that letters be received electronically at ub-reporter@buffalo.edu.

The Reporter encourages members of the UB community to submit letters and upholds the right of community members to voice a wide range of opinions, which may or may not agree with official university policy. While championing the right of free speech, the editor also reviews letters with an eye toward assuring that each is in line with standards that would be expected by members of the university community. These include, but are not limited to:

• Letters should not contain lewd or obscene language

• Letters should not represent a personal attack by the writer on other individuals

• Letter should not be inflammatory in tone

• Letters should not focus on pending personnel matters

The editor of the Reporter in each case checks with the individual (or lead author) whose name is on the letter to make sure that he or she is, indeed, the author and a UB faculty or staff member, or student. If the author's UB affiliation cannot be confirmed using the UB online directory, the letter will not be published.

It is not, however, the responsibility of the editor to authenticate information presented in letters as fact.

The editor, on occasion, will choose to notify a writer that a letter will not be printed if, in the opinion of the editor, the author of the letter has made substantially the same comments in an earlier letter(s) and the new letter does not add anything new to the public discussion of the matter at hand.

All letters submitted to the Reporter for publication are shared by the editor with the assistant vice president for new services and periodicals, along with a recommendation from the editor on whether they should be published.