Right now, you are reading the staff editorial — the opinion of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

And it’s exactly that. An opinion.

Last week’s editorial created a stir on our website. Between it and the unfortunate death of Ron DeRoo, we collected 90 comments — something unusual for a normal news week.

After reading some of the comments, we realized many people were confused about what an editorial is and what a journalist is supposed to do.

Maybe we’re just being presumptuous by expecting everyone to know the difference between the two, but we don’t mean to be.

For those that don’t know, this page is devoted to the opinions of The Oakland Post editorial board. It starts our perspectives section, which is full of columns and opinion pieces from various staff members, faculty members and students.

You have your chance to voice your opinions, too.

The Oakland Post accepts letters to the editor, perspectives and comments on our website. There, you have a chance to either agree or disagree with what we say or let your voice be heard.

The editorial board collects opinion pieces on a myriad of topics. Just let us know if you have any ideas.

As journalists, our ultimate goal is providing news to the general public — good or bad.

On this page, we’re able to do it in a way that allows us to take a stand on whichever issue we feel strongest about.

Each week, the editorial board gets together to plan the editorial for the next week’s issue.

Though we usually try to write about concerns often relating to stories in the current issue, we aim to write about what we think is important and significant.

And sometimes through our research we come across facts that trouble us.

We’re not into “gotcha journalism” but we do try to uphold our watchdog role.

And we’re not the only ones that should be paying attention to these issues.

Everything we discuss pertains to you.

In upcoming issues of The Oakland Post, we will be dissecting many different topics:

— AAUP and Oakland University contract negotiations. We’re curious to see how this period plays out. Last time, there was a strike before a decision was made.

— Parking issues. What’s going to happen when cars collide for parking lot one after the Human Health and new dorm buildings are finished?

— Retention rates. How do Oakland University students compare to other schools?

— Tuition for next year. Increase, decrease, evaporate?

— Administrator salaries. How much do the people in the presidential cabinet make? How much do they compare to other salaries?

— The moat at the Human Health Building. Yes, a moat. See this week’s Mouthing Off. There’s more to come from us, later.