Best Newspaper (Private Colleges)

Back                                Continued

Best Newspaper (Private Colleges)
     Courage. That’s what sets The Reporter at Stetson University apart. When top administrators try to tell college editors and reports what or what not to publish, it’s usually intimidating and stifling. But The Reporter staff didn’t cave in when administrators clamped down last fall, and strongly defends its right to act as the students’ "watchdog," as Editor Jeff Hamrick says.
     Florida Leader respects and admires The Reporter staff for its gutsy and correct stance that campus editors have ultimate control of the editorial destiny of their paper’s content, not administrators.
     Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s The Avion and The Hurricane at the University of Miami historically battle it out with The Reporter as its main competitors in Florida, but this year the Stetson paper was the clear champion.
     Winner of the past two "Best of" Awards in this category, The Reporter now appears to have mastered the annual staff turnover and recruiting-pool quandary so common at most small colleges and universities. With Editor Jeff Hamrick seamlessly assuming the reigns from two-term Editor Andy Dehnart, the paper definitely has maintained, and actually, has improved.
     "We like to think of The Reporter as an open port of call—a place where geeks, Greeks, professors, conservatives, administrators, ‘average Joe’ students, soccer players, and artists can reflect on their lives at Stetson," Hamrick says. "We’re a watchdog that counters excess among administrators and SG officials. We’re a theatre, movie, and restaurant critic. We prepare a rough draft of Stetson’s history.
     "We tend to be rather anti-administration and somewhat critical of the leadership provided by our SGA," Hamrick says. "The Reporter consistently tends to produce editorial positions favoring increased student involvement with the governance of our institution, attacking student apathy and disinterest, and encouraging students to think critically about the way they conduct their lives during their brief undergraduate education.
     "We receive a continuous stream of informal feedback from many constituent groups, as well as letters to the editor," he says. "More formally, we provide our readers with opportunities to evaluate our performance. Our chief copy editor issues accuracy surveys to all individuals who are interviewed for an article."
     Hamrick says many Stetson students do not feel that SGA effectively works for its students’ interests. "We frequently air their complaints," he says. "We’re also quick to scrutinize the activities of our SGA, particularly how they choose to spend student activity fees. Both groups tend to fight student apathy and tend to desire a stronger student role in the governance of the university. As an independent watchdog of both SGA and the administration, though, The Reporter sometimes does not appear to ‘support’ SGA because of our other journalistic obligations."
     Hamrick says the "Opinions" section is the most popular department. "It’s always brimming with content, and our readers practically beg us to participate in ‘Question of the Week,’" he says.
     "I think The Reporter provides a superior return of quality to its constituent audiences," Hamrick says. "The Reporter has developed a culture of ‘doing more with less.’ We don’t have an impressive budget or a staff. But we’re interested in covering dynamic and controversial issues—like the university’s consensual relations policy and the recent debate over the confidentiality of salary figures."
     Even knowing that the paper has earned kudos from Florida Leader for two years running, Hamrick believes his publication has never been better. "The most important change that has occurred on the staff over the past two years is a cultural change. Even after former Editor Andy Dehnart’s departure, my hope is that this culture has taken on a life of its own and will continue to be self-perpetuating," he says. "Gone are the days when The Reporter produced a single original news story every week (and filled the rest of the news section with wire articles and relied primarily on clip art and pre-formatted layout templates). Gone are the days when the reporter existed mostly as an instrument of communication for the Greek system and university administration."

The Reporter’s Gutsy Stance
     Late last fall, Hamrick says, Reporter staffers discovered that a database containing the university’s human resources information was available on a publicly accessible "shared drive" on the university computer network. "The editorial board, after an extensive debate, decided to publish a story about how the accidental deposit of the database on the network caused a change in the status quo," he says. "In other words, because of the sustained interest in the publication of this salary information by employees of Stetson University, we considered the database accident to be an accidental shift in the status quo—a newsworthy shift. We also decided to publish the salary information on-line. We considered the ethical issues very carefully, and we also reminded ourselves that the initial act of publication occurred when the university's agents were negligent in their responsibilities and released the data to the Stetson community."
     Despite The Reporter’s consideration of the ethical and legal implications of publishing the data, the administration caught wind of it. "Due to two separate information leaks—one created by our staff advisor and the other created by an overheard conversation—administrators discovered our preliminary publication plans and began to interfere," Hamrick says. "In the opinion of our editorial board, university administrators created an environment in which the threat of retribution was present. Additionally, they violated a contractual arrangement with the student body by acting outside of the limits of their authority (as delineated in our Board of Student Publications constitution). The Reporter staff decided—before a memorandum with cease and desist orders was given to me by Jim Beasley, vice president for administration—not to publish the information because of the evolving conflict of interest (it was becoming a battle of wills, not an editorial decision). We felt that we were losing our objectivity. Then, we received Beasley's memorandum confirming the presence of a threat of retribution and confirming violation of the Board of Student Publications constitution. Our grievance with these university administrators is centered on this violation of our constitution and the creation of an environment of retribution.
     "We’re pursuing a grievance against the University's Council of Vice Presidents with the Faculty Senate and the Student Government Association. Although the Council's lack of accountability is problematic, we still intend to do our best to hold them accountable for what we consider to be ethically bankrupt decisions," Hamrick says. "Additionally, I intend to file a grievance on behalf of the Board of Student Publications against the president's staff. The president's staff approved the constitution as a university document and has a responsibility to uphold it."
     As Hamrick and crew stood steadfast despite the pressure from above, local and national press including The Chronicle of Higher Education snatched up the story, resulting in some negative attention for the university’s administrators.

Honorable Mention
     At Jacksonville University, Editor in Chief Matt Kirk, Managing Editor Aroha Fanning, and their team produce a vibrant weekly that circulates 2,000 copies. As Fanning says, "I know the students rely on The Navigator to let them know what is going on around campus and especially with the administration."
     Fanning says the Navigator article that had the most impact on campus this year was "Sexual Battery Charges Filed." "It was about the alleged rape that happened on campus in the dorm rooms," she says. "The story was purely fact, which was obtained from the police report, public safety director, and the director of public affairs. Because the defendant’s name was revealed and the victim’s was not, a lot of students felt that The Navigator was out of line, and the following week there were letters to the editor to back this opinion. The article also resulted in some students on campus who were involved in the Ambassadors program, stealing the newspaper and hiding it from prospective students who were visiting for an Open House weekend."
     On a lighter note, Fanning says the paper’s number one feature has been "Babbling with Bridgette," an advice column. "Students e-mail in questions or problems that they’re having with roommates, classes, boyfriends, girlfriend, and Bridgette gives them advice on how to handle these problems," she says.

Back                                Continued

Copyright © 2006 Oxendine Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved