Challenges facing college newspapers

¶ … status of a newspaper. The newspaper is an indispensable part of the media which is used by various people and organizations throughout the world to have links with the public to spread information and news. Other than the newspapers, we have radio, television and Internet for disseminating information to the world. Till the recent past printed newspapers were the only forms of newspaper available. However with the widespread popularity of the internet, newspapers became online which made it possible for the readers to access newspapers at any time and from any place. Further it enables to have a reduction in the cost of publishing.

As in the case of national or regional newspapers, colleges also have newspapers being published by the students. Similar to these newspapers, college newspapers also have an editorial team who would work on bringing out the newspaper. In several cases we can witness that the college management has a strong hold over the publication of these newspapers. The college administration might decide the guidelines for the newspaper, and would see to it if the newspaper is in line with the college policy or not. These at times hinder the right to free speech for the students and would enable them to rebel against such anti-student policies of the college. In order to have information on College student newspapers, there are many sites available for this purpose. Let us say for an example that the University of Minnesota provides a list of 337 newspapers on their site. (News Central - College News papers University of Minnesota)

Let us now look at the differences that these sorts of policies bring up among the students themselves regarding their own newspaper. In the case of an article in a student newspaper for a well-known college, some of the students felt that one particular article was a promotion for the sex industry. Some of the students felt that the article was not an editorial, but a promotion for the industry and justified them to make them look appealing and a suitable choice for a good moral profession. On top of that, it was felt that the headline of "Guide to Sin in Seattle" was not suitable for a large educational institution. The strippers of the clubs were viewed as "cool women seductively sizing up their prey and staring down the female competition" and this was viewed as unacceptable and degrading to women. This was felt as promoting inequality between the sexes. Some students felt that the objective of this article was to provide a cash course about strip club etiquette and this was very distasteful to many students. This was because the author gave details of the method of choosing the best individual lady for the lap dance and also gives the best method for getting the best experience at any club. (the Commons Newspaper of the University of Washington, Bothell)

The mission was not clear as to what the author was trying to do through the article, but some felt that it could be to get the public informed regarding the best methods by which women could expose themselves in public. This is clearly not any good editorial, as the article deals with only the professional method of becoming a strip artist. At the same time, quite few of the students were irritated that this was one of the largest articles that was ever printed in this magazine. The student management felt that this sort of article was very deplorable and they were the avid readers of the magazine. The magazine reached not only the college grade students, but also a lot of students who were planning to get into college. The article would also be seen by the alumni and the article can be compared to other articles degrading women and is similar in nature to articles bashing homosexuals or praising slavery. It was felt by them that this sort of article was not proper for a student magazine. The college has also been trying for quite a few months to build up joint magazine along with a women's college, and this sort of an article would certainly not help that cause.

At the same time, some students felt that this was an article was very interesting and very well written for the magazine. This was felt to be the beginning for similar articles in the magazine for the future. Another student was surprised that the money of the students was being wasted on such articles and felt that this article would probably lead to questions as to whether this reflected the quality of teaching at the college. The author also defended himself and he felt that the culture at this college was not democratic. The culture in the college was also not suitable for a free press and independent in terms of thought. The administration was also accused of censoring articles, bullying writers into accepting the administrations point-of-view and withdrawing support for the student magazine. (the Commons Newspaper of the University of Washington, Bothell)

This shows us clearly that there are two different sides of opinion and there are students who accuse the administration of not supporting the student press. It is true that the student press exists because of the financial payment by the students, but that does not intend that any information and all information available must be printed. America is a democratic country, and even college magazines and newspapers here should follow democratic norms and all college magazines and newspapers should be democratic in their operation. This means that the running of the college magazine or newspaper must be democratic in consistent with the views of both the college management and the students being taken into consideration.

Now let us look some issues of censoring and punishment that have proceeded further. One of these was at the Governor's State University and the editors of the Innovator student newspaper, and the student editors have sued the University accusing them of tampering with mail, closing their offices without their agreement, changing a computer without their agreement and demanding a prior view of the paper before printing. This was after the magazine published an article by the faculty advisor who had been sacked, and at the same time, the administrator of the University claimed that the editors have not kept up to the basic journalistic standards. He followed this up by asking the printer not to meet any further issues till an administrator had read over the issue. As a result, no further issues of the magazine have been published. (Censorship of College Student Newspapers)

One would say that the main reason for the failure of the magazine not to get published was the failure of the two authorities to meet and come to some sort of an understanding. This sort of understanding has to be reached for the world to progress. Instead the University has replied to the law suit saying that the previous Hazelwood high school newspaper as resolved has given a total authority to the administrators to end up controlling the newspaper. This sort of an attitude will never resolve conflicts and one of main purposes of any educational institution is to teach students to resolve conflicts and not continuously get into lawsuits. On another side, at the University of Northern Colorado, the trustees have voted to accept the recommendation by the student government to remove all funding by the University and then reduce the student fees. Certainly this will reduce the quality of education given to the students and should the University authorities agree to such a change? The reason why both the authorities agreed was that the newspaper was accused of being critical of the student union management. Sometimes the students are even punished for writing articles critical of the administration. This happened in the Texas Tech University's School of Medicine where a student of medicine was removed from the school as he wrote an article criticizing the behavior of the county medical examiner during the time of an autopsy.

This is against the principle of education promoting academic freedom which ensures the liberty of students and the staff to make statements even if the statements are viewed as being untrue or one-sided. One does not deny that untrue and defamatory writings have no value in terms of free speech, but the students have to be taught that they have the liberty to have their own opinion, and express them in the student publications in the right manner. This has to be accepted, especially if the student magazines permit anonymous publications. Also, if anonymous publications are permitted, then certainly students cannot be punished for such articles. (Censorship of College Student Newspapers) One can clearly see that the biggest reason for all the legal problems has been the difficulty in adjusting with each other, and one has to realize that both the students and their teachers have to accept adjustments in their thought and behavior when they work together in a college.

One has to look at all over the nation and realize that most campuses, large and small, public or private are now seeing a surge of conservative newspapers so that they could counter the liberal college media that is perceived to have been started by the college authorities. This is also reflected in the view that there is a lot of difference between a high school senior and a college freshman. Regarding the world of student journalism, the U.S. Court of Appeals has also agreed with this view. This is reflected in the campus newspaper theft which was not taking place till the beginning of the 1990s. This is now a regular source of trouble for college student media. (Trends in College Media)

At the same time, this has not reflected in the quality of college newspaper, and some of them are of excellent quality. Let us look at some college newspapers for this purpose. One of them, namely the Boston College Chronicle has worked on the recently concluded papal conclave and also tried to inform the audience about what the world can hope from the new Pope. Certainly this information when they appear in a college magazine reflects the interest that the younger generation has in matters relating to religion and also tends to be informative. (Boston College Chronicle)

However, all magazines are not so informative and some of them seem to reflect only sectarian interests. Another college magazine reflected that graduate preceptors, instructors, teaching assistants and research assistants were on strike for one week and returning to the classes. The Strike was the second in two years. It also mentioned that there was a split in the strikers, and some continued working while others had continued teaching during the period of the strike. They had also made an effort to find out as to how many strikers were there among the total staff. This study was also done by a student and studied the participation in the entire 168 members who were supposed to be on strike. (GSEU Strikers Return to the Classroom)

The strike was most prevalent among the departments of Literature Humanities, Contemporary Civilization, Art Humanities, Music Humanities, and University Writing. The replies to the questionnaire was received from only 93 of the students and only 65% of them had cancelled their classes while the others had held some or all of their classes. The magazine was also truthful in reflecting that the University did not consider the graduate teachers as students and not employees, and thus not entitled to what they were striking for. (GSEU Strikers Return to the Classroom) This shows clearly that this particular magazine operates more like a newspaper than like a student magazine and it is open to doubt as to whether it fulfils the purpose for which it is operated.