Why write an op-ed? 

Contact: News and Media Relations Director James Nash, or Karen Nikos-Rose, Strategic Communications, for more information.

An op-ed offers a forum for informed opinion in areas where UC Davis faculty and staff have unique expertise. Today, newspapers, online publications, and syndication services such as The Conversation, run op-eds or essays on various topics.

If you would like to write an op-ed, first read the guidelines of the publication in which you are seeking placement. Many offer forms, suggested lengths, other guidelines and contact information. In almost all cases, they will require that the op-ed be exclusive to their publication. Here are a few examples of instruction pages:

• The Sacramento Bee instruction pages for letters to editor, opinion and other submissions. Most newspapers have such a page. This will tell the author how long the piece should be, what is accepted and where to send it. Also see how it is done at The San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times.
• The New York Times, the Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal offer information for aspiring op-ed writers.
• In addition, more specialized publications like The Hill, NBC Think, The Well News and Legal Dive publish op-ed submissions. Many fields of expertise have their own publications.
• Most publications prefer authors to cite sources of factual material using links embedded in the text, but some want footnotes. Check guidelines before writing. If you are citing your original research, note this in the text.
• A New York University professor wrote a blog entry about how and why he writes op-eds. Good advice from an academic on how to write for the masses.
• Submission information for publications from The Op-Ed Project.
• The Conversation, which publishes essays and distributes to other publications, takes pieces from UC Davis experts. They want faculty to coordinate with them on the piece before it is written. They accept pitches from faculty or doctoral students supervised by a faculty member at a university. Their stories range from short explainer pieces to longer essays. You may fill out a pitch, or contact Strategic Communications if you are interested in this publication, and we will assist you with the process. Through a Creative Commons license, faculty, the university and individual departments may republish the articles on their own websites.
• Additional Resource

This book, Writing to Persuade: How to Bring People Over to Your Side, published in 2019, gives vivid examples and helpful information. Here is an excerpt.

Examples

The following are examples of op-ed and Conversation essays written on a variety of topics by UC Davis faculty and doctoral students published in various publications.

·       NIH funding cuts by a faculty member in the Sacramento Bee

·       Why does red wine cause headaches? The Conversation

·       The Supreme Court in the Los Angeles Times

·       Guest essay, abortion rights, The New York Times

·       Online privacy in The Hill

·       Rural bashing in higher education, Chronicle of Higher Education

·       Children’s right to education despite immigration status in the San Jose Mercury News

·       Three things to know about green card holders’ rights (explainer piece in The Conversation)

·       Attempted Insurrection in The Washington Post

• A piece about Reconstruction (resulted in congressional action) in The New York Times
• Making the case for science, UC Davis researcher published in hometown newspaper

Op-Ed example

The following is an example of a good op-ed broken down into its components:

·       has an introduction to the topic, or an overall statement;

·       presents a problem or an issue;

·       gives specific examples of the problem;

·       and has, most importantly, a call to action.

[Set the time, tell us the reason people should care]

Preparing students to succeed in a workforce that’s increasingly diverse and global gets to the heart of our mission at UC Davis. So, it’s incumbent that we remove barriers for students who have been historically excluded from higher education and create additional opportunities for these populations.

We are guided by the University of California’s mission to make higher education accessible to all, with campus populations that reflect the state’s diversity.

[Present the problem]

Still, there’s no question that much work needs to be done.

[Give specific examples after you have set the scene, set out the problem. The stats are not the story, they are the details. Keep them brief]

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, Black student enrollment on college campuses declined by 22% between 2010 and 2020. At UC Davis, about 4% of undergraduate students are Black, a rise of 1% over the previous year. Comparatively, 35% of our students are Asian and 25% identify as Hispanic/Latinx.

SB 1348 is a much-needed step to increase equity in California higher education. The bill would designate institutions that enroll high numbers of Black students and demonstrate a commitment to supporting them as Black-Serving Institutions (BSIs). The designation would occur when a California college or university has a Black student population of at least 10% or 1,500 students and meets other requirements such as offering co-curricular learning opportunities or campus affinity centers for Black students.

A BSI designation will serve a seal of excellence, one that lets current and prospective students know these campuses are explicitly committed to supporting them. All students would benefit from such a designation, both in terms of cultural competency and academics. One recent study found that all students achieve higher grades in STEM courses when classes are more diverse.

[Add something emotional]

I know firsthand how much representation matters in the classroom. When I finished graduate school at UC Berkeley, I was one of only about 30 African Americans in the entire country who earned a doctorate in the field of engineering.

It was sometimes tough to not feel like an outsider when I as the only person of color in the lecture hall or laboratory, an experience that too many students still experience today. A BSI designation helps reassure Black students that they are in a place of belonging, with peers they can relate to and institutional support in place to help them achieve their academic goals.

Collectively, establishing BSIs is part of a systemwide effort to improve equity in higher education.

[Have something good to say; especially about what is happening now if you can.]

I’d like to applaud our neighbors at Sacramento State for being honored in June as California’s first Black Serving Institution. UC Davis’ longstanding support of underrepresented students is part of this regional momentum.

That includes the 2015 founding of our Center for African Diaspora Student Success, which supports students with everything from academics and mentorship to health, well-being and professional development.

[How do we, or should we act?]

Through UC Davis’ African American Retention Initiative, we’re focused on recruiting and retaining African and African American students. We organize events to help build community, like our annual Black Convocation that bring students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members together.

[Wrap it up; move toward your call to action]

Such efforts are moving UC Davis in the right direction. Last year, enrollment of African Americans rose by 22.5% and they accounted for 4.7% of new California undergraduates. Our graduation rates for Black students have increased dramatically. For freshman and first-year students, four-year graduation rates for Black students have increased from 30% to 52% over the last 20 years.

[Call to action]

I urge Gov. Newsom to sign SB 1348 into law. It would show the nation that California is at the forefront of advancing social equity and student success on our campuses.