Dan’s Journey to Iraq: A Student Press Adventure, Part 2, “More Please”

Early last year, I began writing about The AUIS Voice, the first independent student newspaper in post-Saddam Iraq.  Started by a scrappy band of Iraqi students and an impassioned ex-Washington Post reporter, the Voice’s spirit of innovation is ironically its adherence to the oldest principles of the craft: objectivity, editorial freedom, and the search for truth (rarities among Iraqi media).  In mid-May, via a university grant, I traveled to the northern Kurdish region of Iraq to interview and observe the student staffers in action– along with gaining a glimpse of the university and region where their unfolding story is set.  This series is centered on my trip.

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Dan’s Journey to Iraq: A Student Press Adventure

Current and former Voice staffers and I pose for a quick pic on the AUIS campus. Left to right: Mahdi Abdullah, Namo Kaftan, Taha Faris, Me, Hazha Ahmed, and Arez Hussen Ahmed.

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Part 2: “More please”

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During my stay in Sulimaniyah, a city in northern Iraq affectionately dubbed Suli, I had a hard time paying taxi drivers.  Strangely, they repeatedly refused to take the money I attempted to hand them from the backseat.  I had to literally insist again and again by shoving the bills at them, until finally, seemingly reluctantly, they accepted.

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I asked staffers at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), about this.  It’s apparently a matter of pride, the notion of presenting the impression that they do not need the money even though of course they do desire and require it.

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One AUIS staffer told me he once experienced this back-and-forth to almost comical effect– the driver vehemently declining the bills, then finally taking them, checking the amount, looking up at him, and stating plaintively, “More please.”

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They love pizza in Suli.  It is among the most popular non-local delicacies in the city, served in many restaurants.  No Western food chains exist, although a McDonald’s knock-off McConnell’s (not quite sure of the spelling) once served fast food in the American way.  It has since closed down, but the iconic yellow arches (much smaller than the real thing) still sit atop the building from which it once operated.  I spotted them one night from a local restaurant across the street– while surrounded by Hookah smoke.

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The strangest segregation occurs in the eateries.  Men can sit anywhere they want.  But any parties with women are relegated to “family sections”– small spaces typically to the side or at the back of the main dining areas.  During one lunch near the end of my trip, I even ate in a “family section” that was in an entirely different building.  The restaurant apparently keeps two locations– one serving men and one serving women and mixed company.

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Men hold hands in northern Iraq as they walk down the street.  From what I understand, it is a sign of immense affection and brotherhood.  For the most part, men and women do not hold hands publicly.  Apparently students at AUIS love formal dances, even the school-sponsored ones we tend to regard here as lame.  The reason: Men and women can interact flirtatiously, even touch, while the music plays.  Students also worship Facebook, again in part because it allows for private, real-time, unsupervised communication with the opposite sex.

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My favorite photo among the many I took during my trip. Not sure if it touches on something deeper, reeks of easy stereotype or is just a still of two guys working on a truck. But it hooks me every time I glance at it.

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There is a movie theater and old bowling alley and fairgrounds and a bustling street market and a few restaurants serving alcohol in the city, but local residents most enjoy picnics.  They are all-day, food-heavy, music-happy family get-togethers.  I saw a few from a distance in both Suli and Halabja.  The smiles on the faces of those enjoying a respite from everyday stresses and Third World realities were ELECTRIC.  I wanted in.

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A shot of the Salim Street Market, the center of commerce in the city. One word: Bustling.

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I am now addicted to Kurdish music.  It is buoyant, with repetitive rhythms that do not feel repetitious and a pop-like vibe that is appreciably Auto-Tune-free.  Due to the language barrier, I don’t know what the musicians are singing about but the songs are so upbeat I always just assume they are on the edge of glory.

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Jogging is not a pastime in Suli.  Neither is biking.  Blogging also is not a practice many have taken up.  During my time in the city, there was not a stoplight or lane marker to be seen.  Instead, traffic is controlled by frequent speed bumps, U-turns, and traffic cops/soldiers.

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Yes, there are soldiers in Suli.  They are mostly on guard at more prominent locales– political party headquarters, high-end apartment complexes, larger shopping centers.  Some sit in white shacks on sidewalks.  Armed guards do sweep underneath all cars entering AUIS with mirrors checking for explosives and I did have to pass through a metal detector.

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But I never felt unsafe in Iraq, ever, not even for a moment.  People did stare, however.  There are very few outsiders, especially white people, in the area. In January, The New York Times named the region one of its “41 Places to Go in 2011,” but I did not see a single Western tourist in Suli or nearby Halabja.  None. (In a related sense, without any cynicism, I literally cannot fathom how the many hotels I saw stay in business!)

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One of the opening images from a photo slideshow put together by former Voice adviser Jackie Spinner, who wrote a wonderful related Slate piece "Iraqi Kurdistan, Vacation Paradise?"

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The joke among AUIS staffers is that if you see Westerners or Europeans somewhere in Suli, you should go up and ask what their job is at AUIS.  A majority of foreigners do work for the university, along with a smattering employed by NGOs.  I did not see any American soldiers.

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There are seasons in Suli.  There is also a lot of dust.  One AUIS faculty member told me it gets so bad that at times the distant mountains typically seen from her 12th-floor apartment balcony literally disappear from view.

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It also gets light insanely early.  After arriving at my hotel around 3 a.m. on my first day in Iraq, I still recall the groan-inducing realization that dawn had not waited long to follow me.  It broke around 4:30 a.m.

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About eight hours later, a new reality dawned on me, linked to the largest student protest in AUIS history: I am not actually in Iraq.  I only think I am.

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To Be Continued ||| Part 3: “The Saga of the ‘S'”

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Read about the Voice’s founding in my exclusive six-part CMM series, originally posted in April-May 2010.

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Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six

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Dan’s Journey to Iraq: A Student Press Adventure, Part 1, “Sulimaniyah 90210”

Early last year, I began writing about The AUIS Voice, the first independent student newspaper in post-Saddam Iraq.  Started by a scrappy band of Iraqi students and an impassioned ex-Washington Post reporter, the Voice’s spirit of innovation is ironically its adherence to the oldest principles of the craft: objectivity, editorial freedom, and the search for truth (rarities among Iraqi media).  In mid-May, via a university grant, I traveled to the northern Kurdish region of Iraq to interview and observe the student staffers in action– along with gaining a glimpse of the university and region where their unfolding story is set.  This series is centered on my trip.

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Dan’s Journey to Iraq: A Student Press Adventure

A quick shot taken during a mid-May hike outside Halabja, Iraq. Apparently, it's near the spot where those hikers recently became lost and wandered into Iran. (Photo by Arez Hussen Ahmed, Voice editor-in-chief and my traveling companion that day. More details later in this series, like why I'm wearing dress pants for a hike.) :)

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Part 1: “Sulimaniyah 90210”

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You do not need a visa to enter Iraq.  On spec, I found that hard to believe.  Elia Boggia, communications director at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), said he once dealt with a foreign journalist who became obnoxiously angry over email at Boggia’s insistence that he could fly in without a crazy amount of paperwork or governmental clearance.  The journalist simply refused to believe it was that easy to get into the country.

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I trusted Boggia.  And he was right.  In mid-May, I flew from Tampa to New York City to Dubai to Sulimaniyah, Iraq, sans visa.  (Other suggested fly-into-Iraq spots– Amman, Jordan and Istanbul, Turkey.)

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I highly recommend Air Emirates– amenities galore.  My AE flight from NYC to UAE even had electric plugs in the seatbacks!  For a laptop-cuddling workaholic, this was heaven.  (Only movie nerds will appreciate this: I first watched “Next Three Days” via the seatback screen while I worked and then watched a not-so-legally-downloaded version of “The Fugitive” on my laptop.  I prefer the latter.)

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At JFK in New York, the Air Emirates ticket agent at the counter asked me about my final connecting flight into Iraq.  I told him the airline’s name: Fly Dubai.  He giggled, asking, “Is that a real airline?”  I landed in Sulimaniyah (affectionately dubbed Suli by the locals) via a very-late-night flight.  It was the size of a typical domestic plane.  A couple dozen people were on board.  At least by sight, I was the only Caucasian.  I had the vibe I was also the only Westerner.  The only women I spotted were the flight attendants.

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The city’s airport is tiny.  The best way to describe it: It’s like the ‘other’ airport in many cities.  You know, the one that no major airlines are based at, mostly catering to private planes, and with one main building.

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Suli greeted me with silence.  The airport is not too far from the city center, but it definitely exists in a quiet bubble, at least in the dead of night.  After the silence came slight nervousness.  The driver arranged by AUIS to pick me up did not show.  This became clear about 45 minutes after my flight, when I was the only one in the airport building besides a couple security staffers.  There was not a computer in sight.  It was far too late to call a university number and reach anyone.  My iPhone– which had admirably come through in other international situations– was, alas, wireless-impaired.  I waited at an empty taxi stand for a few minutes, capturing the video below out of boredom/scrapbook obsession.

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This is the epitome of random video. It is nothing but a barebones glimpse of my view from the airport taxi stand around 2 a.m. I'm narrating the video for no apparent reason, which eventually makes me laugh at myself.

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I eventually decided more proactive measures needed to be taken. I awkwardly finagled a kindly, mustachioed, somewhat-bilingual soldier (in actual fatigues) to call for a taxi on my behalf.

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I was staying at the Hotel Dilan on Salim Street, the city’s main drag.  The taxi driver spoke Kurdish.  I do not.  The next five minutes of my life, more or less: “Hotel Dilan.  DILAN.  No?  Hotel, guests, sleep.  D-I-L-A-N.”  At one point, out of exasperation and personal amusement, I said, “Dilan.  You know, Dylan. 90210.  Beverly Hills 90210.  You know Dylan?  Luke Perry?”

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Fortunately, my savior/soldier again happened by and stepped in to translate.  The driver nodded as he told him the hotel name in Kurdish.  The driver then suddenly started speaking quite fast for 30 seconds or so.  The soldier directed his attention back at me.  “He has a recommendation,” he said.  “He wants to know if you would like to stay somewhere else.”

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Admittedly blah video of my taxi ride from the Suli airport to the hotel. Main theme: empty road, dusty window.

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I laughed, hard.  (Was this his plan all along??)  Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the hotel.  There was no metered fare.  I had no idea what to pay.  I gave him $15 USD.  He seemed satisfied.  In the hotel lounge, I grabbed a Dilan business card– English on the front, Kurdish on the back. 

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Yes, I eventually made it to the hotel. This is an award-winning self-portrait, "Dan, It's 3 a.m., Iraq Time." I then sweatily passed out (the AC was not working).

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The view from the front of Suli's Hotel Dilan, taken the morning of my arrival.

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To Be Continued ||| Part 2: “Speed Bumps & Family Sections: Things That Surprised Me About Suli”

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Read about the Voice’s founding in my exclusive six-part CMM series, originally posted in April-May 2010.

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Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six

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Student Editors at College of DuPage Continue Push for Faculty Adviser’s Reinstatement

Student staffers at an Illinois community college newspaper are continuing to speak out against the ouster of the paper’s longtime adviser.  At a board meeting Thursday, editors of The Courier at the College of DuPage implored school officials to reinstate Cathy Stablein as their faculty overseer.

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As I previously posted, DuPage admins. abruptly removed Stablein from the adviser positon at the start of the month for the stated purpose of enabling her to concentrate more on the school’s flagging journalism program.  Current Courier editors and other critics were not convinced about this claim, calling the school’s decision instead a “sly attack on free speech and college media.”

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In an email to college media advisers, Northern Star adviser Jim Killam at Northern Illinois University wrote: “Cathy has been removed from her advising position, with the official reason being the college wants her to spend more time revamping the college’s journalism program. She was told she doesn’t have time to do both (she disagrees). The suspected real reason for this action is that the paper has been doing reporting critical of administration and the school’s board of trustees, and that this is a first step toward eliminating the journalism program. . . . A temporary adviser was appointed this week and– you guessed it– it’s a PR person from the college.”

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As one attendee at the recent board meeting stated, “When a state school removes an adviser and it doesn’t involve incompetence, unethical behavior or illegal activity, it falls under political motivation.”

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According to The Chicago Daily Herald, the university is holding to its stance that the move was not motivated by content concerns or political machinations.  Instead, admins. argue it is in everyone’s best interests, allowing Stablein to concentrate solely on “breathing life into a journalism program currently at risk.”  A DuPage PR spokesman: “If the program is ultimately not found to be viable, then Ms. Stablein’s own employment at the college would be jeopardized.  We are attempting to avoid this by giving Ms. Stablein and her fellow journalism professors every opportunity to strengthen the program.”

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An online petition against the decision was filed at the start of the month and now sports 480 signatures.  More recently, a DuPage faculty senate resolution was unanimously passed voicing “deep concern” over Stablein’s removal.

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Student Journalist Spotlight: Kelly Stroda, Incoming Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Kansan

As I wrote recently, one of my favorite college newspaper stories of the past year was a powerful four-part Daily Kansan report that tells the tales of three Kansas University students who lost a parent during their time in school.  It is, as the series headline states, a “tragedy in transition.”

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As Kelly Stroda reported for the Kansan, one in 10 individuals deals with the death of mom or dad before turning 25.  And yet, as a prominent sociology professor is paraphrased telling Stroda, “[T]here is little research conducted on college students and the death of a parent.”

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Stroda’s series begins filling this information gap.  She captures the students’ heartrending memories of the moment death entered their undergraduate experience, the emotional hole it has etched, and their baby steps toward healing.

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As she writes in the introduction, “College students who lose a parent are affected emotionally, psychologically, physically, academically and financially.  At the very time they are about to launch independent lives, they lose the people they rely on most for direction.”

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Kelly Stroda, who put together the four-part report, is The Daily Kansan's incoming editor-in-chief.

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In a brief interview, Stroda, the Kansan‘s incoming editor-in-chief, outlines her reasons for writing the series and what she learned about life, death, and journalism along the way.

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What drew you to this project?  What questions were you most interested in answering? 

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The topic was one I’d been thinking about awhile.  One of my best friends is a few years older than me, and she tried to write the story when she was in school.  The story was more personal to her, however, because she lost her dad as a teenager.  She graduated before she could finish the story, so I’d been tossing around the idea of picking up the topic and writing it myself.  Then in January, Thomas Robinson, one of KU’s star basketball players, unexpectedly lost his mom.  After that, I realized how badly I wanted to do the story.  The story of his loss and the impact it had on his family was all over the media.  I realized, though, that there were plenty of other college students who have suffered the same loss.  So, in the end, I would say my piece was less about questions I wanted answered, but stories I thought deserved to be told.

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How did you find students who had lost their parents while at KU?  And how open were they to having their stories told?

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It wasn’t easy.  I mostly relied on Facebook and people who knew other people.  I joke that it’s a miracle I still have Facebook friends after the number of depressing statuses I had this semester looking for college students who lost a parent.  The students I spoke with were quite open to telling me their stories.  In fact, most said it was relieving to talk about their experiences.  Usually, they said they try to not talk about their loss because it might make others uncomfortable.  I was the opposite of that.

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What surprised you most while reporting?

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When I started, I had no idea how much research was out there.  Like I said, I mostly just wanted to tell the stories.  However, upon trying to find statistics and research for my piece, I was shocked at how little research has been done.  The loss of a parent is jolting no matter how old the child is.  There is plenty of research about both children younger than 18 and adults who lose their parents at traditional ages, but very little information about college students who lose a parent.

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What did you learn from the students?

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I learned that, sometimes, journalism can act as therapy for sources who have been in traumatic situations.  Sometimes, they haven’t had the chance to talk about their experiences because they don’t trust anyone to listen or don’t want to make others uncomfortable.  From the research I was able to find, many people who suffer the loss of a parent feel “silenced”– as if they can’t talk about their pain with anyone.  Seeing a source cry during an interview was a new experience for me as a journalist.  Heck, I even started tearing up during [one especially powerful] interview.  How could I not?

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From your experience with this project and others, what are the keys to mounting longer-term investigative reports or feature pieces?

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There are three keys to launching long-term or feature stories.  First, it’s imperative that you give yourself plenty of time to report and write the story.  Investigative and feature pieces take many interviews and lots of research.  It’s not a short-term gig.

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Second, if you have the luxury to choose the subject you are writing about, make sure it’s something you want to write or learn about.  If that’s not the case, you may not enjoy it or learn as much from the experience.

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Third, remember that your sources are more than sources– they are people.  They are people who deserve to be respected and listened to.  Sometimes, you may have to interview a source three, four or five times to get the story you want to tell.  That’s part of good journalism.

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What’s the trick to organizing and writing the final reports after combing through all the background work and interview data?

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This is definitely the tricky part.  Usually, I write down some sort of outline.  Nothing extravagant, but just a general direction of where I think the story can go.  In this case, I sort of had it easy because I divided the story into four parts.  However, earlier in the year, I wrote a profile piece about KU’s retiring university architect. That story was much more difficult to organize.  So, I think not letting yourself get overwhelmed is key.  First, just get what you want to say out.  Then, the pieces will come together and make sense.  Also, remember that editing is imperative.  Bad editing could ruin a potentially great story, so don’t be afraid to ask others for help. Separately, a note on combing through background work and interview data: Somehow note important things that strike you during interviews– dates, stories, quotes, etc.  You can always look back at those and then try to go in the direction you want to go.

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On a personal level, did your work on the stories impact your relationship with your own parents?  An extra hug or phone call perhaps?

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The story definitely makes me appreciate my parents more.  I’m already close with my parents, but I thought about them even more in reporting this story.  I do remember when I was writing the story itself, I would call my parents just to tell them how much I appreciated them.

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Version of this Q&A also appears as my latest USA Today College “Campus Beat” post.

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You Know You Stink at Digital Journalism When…

For fun, a friend challenged me yesterday to complete the following sentence, “You know you stink at digital journalism when…”  Idealistically, I saw it as a possible starting point for a future class session.  But mostly, I just wanted to see what I could conjure up.

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Below are 30 responses I threw together in 15 minutes (there were witnesses!).  My particular brand of optimistic snarkiness is embedded in many of them.  What do you think?  Help me out.  What else belongs on the list??

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You sign onto Twitter once a week, just to check in.

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You think shaky video is “just so much more real man.”

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At the start of a press conference, you place your digital recorder at the back of the room under a duffel bag to capture “white noise reaction.”

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You write a 1,000-word blog post that begins, “I don’t have anything to add to what everyone else has been saying. . . .”

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Your online portfolio is on Myspace.

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You watch the robbery play out across the street while holding your smartphone with video capabilities tightly in your pocket.

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You tape a video stand-up with porn on your computer’s screen visible in the background.

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You text a source after an interview with a three-part follow-up question and a note, “If you could hit me back by text in complete sentences ASAP that would be killa!”

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You spell Arianna with one n.

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All of your podcasts begin with a prolonged throat clear and the words, “OK OK, here I go, here I go, ugh, I have to pee, OK now five, four, three…”

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You think The Daily Beast is an STI.

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You secretly edit the dachshund out of your photo series on pet-owner lookalikes because, as you confirmed, “I’m just not a dog person.”

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You think 10,000 Words is a really text-heavy magazine feature.

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You post a 90-minute hidden camera report on your trip to the dermatologist under the headline, “Are skin care doctors just too darned nice?”

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You think Poynter’s Romenesko is a local deli.

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You sit so close to your computer while recording video your webcam captures nothing but your chin zit.

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You think Quora is a character on “Game of Thrones.”

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Your story’s word cloud includes your byline and the text from the nearby banner ad for Propecia.

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Your email signature contains the quote “I live life 140 characters at a time.”

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Your opening tweet is still visible on your Twitter profile page.

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Photos for your time-lapse of the campus cafeteria were taken over 30 minutes at dawn in July.

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You contact an uber-blogger with the opener, “Hello sir/madam/Super 8 creature!  You don’t know me but I have a blog post you might be interested in…”

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You respond to a suggestion about using Dipity to help your story packaging with the question, “Is that like Adderall or Four Loko?”

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You don’t know how to get around the New York Times paywall.

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You keep a live blog about the traffic on the fourth floor of your apartment complex’s parking garage.

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Your latest tweet says “Readers, check this out…” followed by a mysterious bit.ly.

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You think hyperlinks are a really active species of wildcat.

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You think cloud computing is web browsing while high.

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You learned about bin Laden’s death in a print newspaper.

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You’re reading this post on a PC powered by Windows 95.

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For a somewhat similar post, click here or on the screenshot below.

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SMU Daily Campus Censorship Debate: Is the Newspaper Responsible for the Pulled Piece?

The Daily Campus, the student newspaper at Southern Methodist University, recently endured an odd bit of censorship.  Administrators at the private university near Dallas removed an opinion piece from the print version of an orientation issue published each summer and mailed to incoming SMU freshmen.

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As I wrote earlier this month, the Daily Campus is independent of the university, allowing prior administrative review of only this issue each year in exchange for the froshies’ contact info.  This is the first time a piece has been pulled since this arrangement was put in place in 2007.

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Now apart from the irony of the administrative act itself (they censored an article calling for more transparency), a larger question has been raised about the incident: Is the Daily Campus actually complicit in this censorship?

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In recent online chatter among college media advisers, one strong viewpoint centered on the newspaper’s censorship claims being weakened by the fact that it entered into the prior review agreement on its own.  The gist of some j-profs’ perspectives: If you willingly agree to possible censorship, who are you to cry foul when such censorship occurs?

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As one student newspaper adviser at a school in the Northwest wrote, “I guess that if you make a deal with the devil, the devil is going to call in his marker at some point, so I can’t see why the students would be shocked.  They handed over that control to the administration in order to get the mailing list, and then, in the edition they handed control over, they run a story that would be bound to raise some administrative hackles. Probably not the best print strategy. . . . I’m not trying to sound unsympathetic, but a deal WAS made and it sounds like the newspaper has been collecting on its bargain for several years.  The editors really are shocked that the admin. at some point isn’t going to want to collect their benefit from the deal?”

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I asked Jessica Huseman, the incoming editor in chief of the Daily Campus (and the writer of the pulled piece), about these charges of devilish dealmaking.  Her response touches on two important points: 1) The devil is in the details— in this case, the most compelling one is that the agreement was made before current staff had started.  2) Enabling potential censorship does not excuse it being carried out. Simply put, censorship is still censorship, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.

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In Huseman’s words:

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It is my hope that we will discontinue this agreement with the administration.  The prior review arrangement was reached before any student currently on staff was at SMU, and even before our current advisor was there.  If they will not give us the addresses without prior review, then I am in full support of pulling the issue entirely and substituting it with one to go out during freshmen orientation.

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I don’t think its fair that the current staff was expected to respect a decision that was made four years ago. Nor do I think it’s fair that the verbal agreement allowed the Daily Campus no negotiating power to say what is and what is not allowed to be printed.

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In the end, this paper is a valuable introduction to SMU for incoming freshmen, and the administration knows that. But to make the paper a large advertisement for the school instead of making it a realistic depiction of what SMU is both cheats the students out of a proper introduction to the university and makes our paper a farce of what it otherwise would be. . . .

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Even if they do have prior review, that doesn’t make nixing a student opinion right or appropriate. I cannot dismiss the irony of nixing an article about transparency– especially since this is the first article the administration has ever pulled from the mail-home edition. Additionally, the article was literally right next to four other articles that were equally critical of other SMU policies.

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All four articles addressed the same audience as mine, and all four articles called for the same thing: change at SMU. To pull mine and to leave the others indicates a larger problem of secrecy within the Board of Trustees that SMU would like to keep under wraps.

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Boise State Student Media Director: ‘Total Change in Yearbook Landscape is Needed’

Are yearbooks dying?  Boise State University student media director Brad Arendt isn’t buying.  Instead, he simply thinks a reinvention is needed in how they are distributed and produced.

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This past week, a CNN Money report  became the latest in a long line of to-hell-in-a-handbasket stories concerning the fate of print yearbooks.  (My most recent post on the subject– “Duke Chanticleer: ‘Portrait of a Yearbook’ as an Old Man.”)

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The CNN piece says yearbooks face three main problems: a drop in school funding for print costs; a drop in disposable incomes among families of students seeking extra cash to buy a copy; and, of course, the rise in digital and social networked alternatives.

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In response, on a popular college media advisers’ list-serv, Arendt rejects the prediction of a yearbook takeover by Facebook, but does confirm a “a total change in the business model and Yearbook landscape is needed.”

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In his words:

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I have thought about the notion of Facebook replacing the yearbook as the article mentions and I go back to a [student journalism] convention around 2005.  A bunch of us advisers were walking and talking about this company that had just exploded and how it *might* replace yearbooks because of many of the photo-sharing and community features it offered.  That company was MySpace.  While still around, clearly it isn’t the force we thought it would be in 2005/06.  I’m not saying Facebook WILL suffer the same fate, but it COULD and it has greatly changed over the past many years.

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Whatever the “social” site, they are all about the *NOW* and the– at-best– last 72 hours.  I recall reading a recent report stating the lifetime of the average Facebook post is a few hours at best, greatly diminishing after 24 and almost completely dead after 72.  How can this “life” of a post or some page last more than a year?  Sure, you can create pages but WHO owns them?  Who will update it when the “main” person or people no longer care to– something likely to last at best 1-2 years AT BEST.

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Compare this to what is I’m sure similar at many of your libraries.  One of the most common requests is for the yearbook (often next to the student newspaper).  I think WE as college media advisors MUST come up with a better long-term solution.  Some of these tech companies are great short-term stopgaps, but the digital age is here and a total change in the business model and Yearbook landscape is needed.

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Why can’t we create e-books?  Most of us already have the computers, the software (Quark/InDesign), gear (cameras), and staff. . . . Why can’t we partner with a digital printing company to do print-on-demand?  As advisers, we are already familiar with contracts and meet companies that come to our conventions. . . .

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Why can’t we change the business model of yearbooks?  Perhaps instead of selling to the must-have-it-now generation we focus on selling to them in a few years?  It will take awhile, but we have been having this conversation for the past five+ years.  That means most of those students who graduated five years ago are now in their late 20s/early 30s and likely settling down and maybe ready to think about getting their yearbook on their iPad.  In the meantime, could we also incorporate social media and things like in-app purchases to subsidize current financial needs?

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I’ll get off my soapbox for now, but I think many stories like this chase the wrong angle.  The old hard cover model is no longer financially viable because it isn’t wanted by enough people.  That isn’t to say it isn’t wanted at ALL.  Also, the social media/web solution I don’t think replaces the true “book” form of the printed version.

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Best College Newspaper Stories of the Year: ‘How High is the Phone Bill?’ (Arizona Daily Wildcat)

In a recent email exchange, Bill Zapcic, universal desk editor at The Asbury Park Press, told me that quality story ideas can often spring from nothing more than a reporter stumbling across something out of the ordinary or “extraordinarily ordinary” and thinking, “Wow.  I wonder what that’s all about?”

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This “wow” factor is at the heart of one of my favorite student press pieces published in fall 2010: an Arizona Daily Widlcat report on the emergency phones that shine under blue lights across the University of Arizona’s campus.  All schools have them of course, in some form.  They are often marked, well-lit, and situated in high-traffic and out-of-the-way areas.

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Last November at UA, Daily Wildcat staff writer Jazmine Woodberry wondered about them.  How much do they cost the school?  How often are they used?  How are the calls made on them handled?  And what are the most common situations prompting people to push the buttons?

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The answers are somewhat surprising.  These are expensive suckers.  They are hardly ever used to report actual trouble.  And the calls placed on them are not recorded by campus police.

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As Woodberry writes: “With nearly half a million dollars spent on close to 200 blue light emergency phones and call buttons and no direct record of usage for each $7,800 phone, their function and purpose are more speculative than conclusive. . . . ‘We get a call from the blue phones just about every day,’ said UAPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Juan Alvarez.  Few of those calls though, Alvarez noted, were emergencies, as people will ask for directions, escorts or push them as a late-night joke.”

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Ultimately, this blue light special report would not have been possible without Woodberry’s newsy instincts and her sense of wonder at something we all walk by daily without giving a second thought.  Well done. 

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Separate but equal kudos to Northern Star staffer Meaghen Harms at Northern Illinois University for her short report on how the money made from campus vending machines is distributed.

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Best College Newspaper Stories of the Year: ‘Tragedy in Transition’ (Daily Kansan)

One of my favorite student newspaper story series of the year centered on death.  In a powerful four-part report, The Daily Kansan told the tales of three KU students who lost a parent during their time in school.  It is, as the series headline states, a “tragedy in transition.”

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The haunting stat in the introduction that provides a grounding for the stories’ newsworthiness: One in 10 individuals deals with the death of mom or dad before turning 25.  And yet, as a prominent sociology professor is paraphrased telling the Kansan‘s Kelly Stroda, “[T]here is little research conducted on college students and the death of a parent.”

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Stroda’s series is not quantitative research, but it is damned good reporting.  Her focus is on Lindy, Ed, and Chris.  She captures the trio’s heartrending memories of the moment death entered their undergraduate experience, the emotional hole it has etched, and their baby steps toward healing.  As she writes early on:

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Many college students . . . are preparing for independence by educating themselves for future careers while still depending on parents for help with tuition, health and car insurance and transportation.  They are exploring relationships with potential partners, while celebrating holidays and family milestones with mom and dad. They are living on their own in dorms, fraternities and sororities and apartments, yet often thinking of their parents’ house where they grew up as ‘home.’  They are responsible for clothing and feeding themselves, while sometimes hauling laundry bags full of dirty clothes home to mom and dad and appreciating their home-cooked meals. In short, the leap from dependent child to independent adult is more daunting for any college student without the help of a parent who has been there before and is now– suddenly– gone.”

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Separate but equal kudos to “In the Aftermath,” a six-part Kansan series on the prevalence and consequences of student sexual assault.

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College Media Story Ideas: What Were Your Professors Like as Students?

It’s a fascinating– and horrifying– thought to some students: Your professors used to be young.

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In their current roles, of course, they teach.  They publish.  They advise.  They hold office hours at weird times.  They fail to grasp the concept of a Twitter hashtag.  And some wear bow ties.  But before they were professors, they were students.

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What were they like then?  Did they party?  Did they study abroad?  Did they switch majors more than clothes?  Did they secretly hate their roommates?  In general, did they enjoy the “stereotypical college experience” or something far from it?

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The Columbia Daily Spectator recently sought to answer those questions and more. The campus newspaper offered a half dozen Columbia University professors the chance to “reflect on their days as students.”  The headline of the profs’ first-person essay set: “The Way We Were.”

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Like all good professors, the Columbia sextet manages to wax quite philosophical and impart some lasting life lessons from their memories.  They also confirm: Professors are not born with tenure and a silver spoon.

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Renowned Columbia sociologist Herbert Gans recalled attending the University of Chicago mainly because it was within walking distance of home– he didn’t have the money for room and board at a school any farther away.

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Allan Silver, an emeritus professor of sociology, discussed the challenges of gaining acceptance to an Ivy League school in the late 1940s, including outside factors such as the so-called “Jewish quota” and the influx of returning World War II veterans.  “I am amazed by today’s undergraduate résumés,” he wrote.  “They burst with precocity– internships in Congress or the British parliament, fluency in languages unrelated to English gained by working in lands far away, scientific research on problems I can’t imagine.  Undergraduates like me were rarely offered a chance for experiences deserving a résumé.”

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To read the rest of the piece, click here or on the image below.

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Best College Newspaper Stories of the Year: ‘Tyler Bernardini Has a Cold’ (Daily Pennsylvanian)

A Mother Jones staffer recently called me to ask for my input on especially memorable student press stories or reporting feats over the past year.  The chat triggered my interest in sharing a small sampling of recent college newspaper stories I’ve bookmarked and particularly enjoyed.  Any nominations of your own?  Email me!

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First up, a Sinatra-esque profile that embodies the very best of New Journalism.  In February, Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Matt Flegenheimer profiled a Penn student-athlete in a manner that directly echoed Gay Talese’s legendary look at Frank Sinatra 45 years ago.

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Of course, any journo junkie worth his ink stains can recite that piece’s header/nut graf: “Frank Sinatra has a cold.”  The profile offers a rare (especially for the era) unvarnished glimpse at a major celeb via a reporting and narrative writing style basically never before attempted.  In a 2007 retrospective, Esquire described the piece as “a pioneering example of what came to be called New Journalism– a work of rigorously faithful fact enlivened with the kind of vivid storytelling that had previously been reserved for fiction.  The piece conjures a deeply rich portrait of one of the era’s most guarded figures and tells a larger story about entertainment, celebrity, and America itself.”

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On a smaller scale, these elements of factual faithfulness, vivid storytelling, and rich portraiture also work their way into the piece penned this past semester by Flegenheimer.  Instead of a singing sensation, his focus is a basketball star.

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Through the feature, Flegenheimer lets us spend roughly 36 hours with Quakers senior guard Tyler Bernardini, who is feeling under the weather prior to an uber-important game.  His mom, teammates, coach, and girlfriend make appearances in the piece, offering support and lighthearted teasing.

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Snippets of his back story and larger themes about parenting, peer mentoring, young love, and student-athlete stress are touched upon.  But the piece’s power is its simplicity.  At heart, as the header and nut graf confirm, the story can be summed up in five words: “Tyler Bernardini has a cold.”

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In a recent email, Daily Pennsylvanian senior sports editor Cal Silcox told me:

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“I’m the kind of person who gets very tired doing the same thing every day, so with a daily paper things are bound to get repetitive and I’m always looking for ways to mix things up. . . . The writer [Flegenheimer, who recently graduated from Penn and is currently in the midst of a summer gig with the New York Times] is probably the best I’ve ever worked with.  Not only does he get it from a reporting standpoint, but his ability for the craft of writing is spectacular.  He didn’t write very much over the last year, but when he did, I pretty much gave him free reign.  He came back on deadline with a story far longer than anything we had published since I worked in the sports section.  He and I were in a long-format journalism class together this semester and we had just read the classic ‘Frank Sinatra Has a Cold.’  Since this piece was kind of magazine-y, we thought we would pay homage to Talese with the title of this one. I’ll be honest, very few people got that reference, and I think a lot of our audience didn’t really appreciate the piece for what it was as an incredible piece of writing.  A lot of people took it at face value and thought we were reporting on Tyler Bernardini’s sinus problems or something.  Sometimes you have to meet the reader halfway, but sometimes, for my and for the reader’s sake, you have to push the envelope a little bit.”

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SMU Censors Daily Campus Article Criticizing School’s Board of Trustees

An ironic case of student press censorship at Southern Methodist University. Last week, administrators at the private university near Dallas removed an opinion piece from a special print edition of The Daily Campus, SMU’s student newspaper.

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The piece’s topic: the lack of transparency and student input into the goings-on of the school’s Board of Trustees.  As Daily Campus interim editor-in-chief Jessica Huseman, who wrote the piece, told the Student Press Law Center, “Nixing an article about transparency is not only a poor decision, it’s an extremely ironic one.”

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To be clear, the article is live online.  It was held solely from the print version of an orientation issue published each summer and mailed to incoming SMU freshmen. The Daily Campus is independent of the university, allowing prior administrative review of only this issue each year in exchange for the froshies’ contact info.  This is the first time a piece has been pulled since this arrangement was put in place in 2007.

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SMU’s dean of students told the SPLC the column was censored “because we didn’t want students to get a distorted view of how the university operates.”

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My take: Apart from the obviously repugnant censorship involved, the dean’s rationale for it is troubling on several levels.  Most prominently, it is a potshot at the paper’s editorial leadership.  Defining something as a distortion is equivalent to calling it a lie (or at least a callous exaggeration).  The dean is thus implying the Daily Campus eds. either purposefully attempted to publish lies or were too ignorant to see them as lies.

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It’s also a slap in the faces of the SMU class of 2015.  We obviously know what’s going on here.  God forbid incoming students read anything even slightly negative about the school prior to arriving on campus in August.  Can SMU really not trust its enrollees to discern the difference between quality journalism and distortion on their own?

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For what it’s worth, here’s a portion of the column, headlined “Board Transparency is Long Overdue,” which on spec seems quite well-written and well-reasoned:

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“For years, SMU has ignored calls to increase the board’s level of transparency. After it was discovered that the Board of Trustees authorized payments to football players resulting in the ‘death penalty,’ which SMU football is still recovering from, the United Methodist Church called for open board meetings to prevent such underhanded actions from happening again. It was ignored.  More than 20 years later, the recommendation has still not been put into effect. The result is a board that has largely ignored term limits for members (the term limit is 12 years, though the longest serving member has served on the board since 1976), has little diversity (the majority of the board is rich, white males) and rejects the idea that the student body should have any idea what is going on behind the board’s tightly closed doors. . . . To ignore the viewpoints of a student body that is paying almost $50,000 a year to attend school at this venerable institution is mind boggling. It is my hope that this year, things will be different.”

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Christopher Newport University’s ‘Green Initiative’ May Kill Student Newspaper’s Print Edition

Update: The staff fought back.  Press attention ensued.  The university caved.  CNU statement… “The allegations regarding the motives of the CNU administration to eliminate funding to support the print version of The Captain’s Log are without merit and seek only to cause harm and impugn the reputation of CNU.  The discussion with The Captain’s Log to embrace 21st-century technology, consistent with the CNU ‘Go Green’ initiative, has been misunderstood and misconstrued as an attack on 1st Amendment rights.  Therefore, there will be no further discussion about discontinuing print funding and The Captain’s Log will have the funding to continue its print edition.”

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The Captain’s Log is currently fighting for its ink-stained life.  The student newspaper at Virginia’s Christopher Newport University is in danger of losing the financial support needed to publish a print edition.

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Beginning in fall 2012, the paper may be forced to exist online-only due to a “green initiative” CNU has apparently decided to launch campus-wide.

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However, the newspaper’s adviser and editors are not buying the supposedly idealistic environmental plan.  Instead, they argue administrators’ print-stoppage attempt is nothing less than indirect censorship spurred by their growing anger over the paper’s content.

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Longtime Captain’s Log adviser and CNU prof. Terry Lee said the paper is being punished “for not sticking with the lighter, features reporting that the school is used to seeing.”

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As he confirmed in an open letter late last month, “In a meeting with the provost [in February], I was told that news stories in the student newspaper were having a negative impact on faculty searches because prospective faculty pick up the newspaper, see stories critical of the administration and president and raise questions about the university. The provost told me that the administration believes that the newspaper is not ethical, that the editors are ‘scandal mongers.'”

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For a Student Press Law Center report on the situation published Monday, a university spokeswoman stammered out such a tepid statement of support for the newspaper and freedom of the press you can practically hear her hissing as she typed it.

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In an email to SPLC staff writer Seth Zweifler, the school official wrote that “the administration ‘neither likes nor dislikes the student newspaper.  The administration recognizes that the student newspaper has a right to publish what it sees fit, even if those stories contain inaccuracies, fall short of standard journalistic practices or are offensive to large segments of the university community.'”

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The two-word response I literally muttered out loud upon reading the statement, while laughing and sighing at the same time: DEAR LORD.  (That absolutely goes in the subtle-ways-to-say-FU hall of fame.)

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Below is the full text of Lee’s open letter about the ongoing saga:

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Terry Lee
Date: Tue, May 31, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Subject: Freedom of the Press on Campus
To: [Names and Email Addresses Withheld]

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May 31, 2011

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To: CNU Student Media Board; Dr. Scott Pollard, Faculty Senate President; Concerned Students and Faculty

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From: Terry Lee, Student Media Board member and newspaper Faculty Adviser

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Subject: University Initiatives to Defund Currents, The Limelight and The Captain’s Log newsprint, and to convert the Student Media Board to a Student Club

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I’m writing to apprise you of recent developments concerning the status of the Student Media Board (SMB) and media outlets on campus, developments that will inhibit the independence and dissemination of the student newspaper and effectively “dissolve” the Student Media Board by stripping it of its budgetary oversight role. This measure would effectively inhibit the SMB freedom-of-the-press firewall between the university administration and student government groups, and the student media. Following this introduction is a brief timeline and synopsis of meetings and outcomes. I am asking SMB Chair Matt Davenport to call a meeting of the SMB in the near future to address this trend toward enervating the free press at CNU.

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As a member of the SMB, as well as faculty adviser to the student newspaper for seventeen years, I am concerned that recent actions may, intentionally or unintentionally, constitute a pattern that will erode the independence of student media at CNU. The pattern is developing on two fronts: a so-called “green initiative” whereby the university will no longer allow the use of Student Activity Funds (SAF) to pay for the printing of the newspaper; a demand to convert the SMB to a student club to maintain its vital Front-End budgeting status—this from the newly formed student Front-End Budgeting (FEB) Student Activities Fee Appropriation Committee, ostensibly headed by Michelle Reed. At the same time, Provost Mark Padilla has initiated action to move the journalism curriculum from the English Department to Communication Studies, a move that wouldn’t directly inhibit freedom of the press on campus, but that could potentially disrupt continuity in journalism studies, as well as the role of the current newspaper faculty adviser.

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The pattern began Feb. 23, 2011. In a meeting with the provost, I was told that news stories in the student newspaper were having a negative impact on faculty searches because prospective faculty pick up the newspaper, see stories critical of the administration and president and raise questions about the university. The provost told me that the administration believes that the newspaper is not ethical, that the editors are “scandal mongers.” He said that the administration has been “connecting the dots” in the newspaper’s coverage in the last year and found the newspaper to be distasteful. He told me that the president isn’t happy with the newspaper and that the president would be talking to me about it. To date, I have heard nothing from the president.

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In dealings with the Dean of Students, we have apparently been misled twice:

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• We were told, in writing . . . that a student committee (FEB Student Activities Fee Appropriation Committee) refused to allocate funds for the printed edition of the newspaper so as to help further “the University’s goal of becoming a ‘green campus.’” A student member of that committee, who is also the Student Assembly president, Jett Johnson, wrote in email that the student committee “did not discuss this issue [defunding newsprint] in any form” (see his email below) that, in fact, he is personally against defunding the newsprint edition.

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• The attached letter outlining the student committee’s decisions to defund Currents and The Limelight (those decisions apparently did come from the student committee) as well as defund newsprint, is signed in typescript, but without a personal signature, by Michelle Reed, who works in the office of Student Activities. Ms. Reed has said that not only did she not write the letter, but she had never seen it. She asked for a copy.

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Respectfully,

Terry Lee

Associate Professor of English

Director, Journalism Program

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Below is a synopsis of events that have occurred since my Feb. 23 meeting with the provost:

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• April 22

Emily Cole, Victoria Shirley and I met with Dean Hughes and Provost Padilla, who wanted students to explain how the newspaper operated. At the end of the meeting, I asked why the dean called this meeting. He said that he wanted to help the newspaper by finding out what could be done to invest more in technology, i.e., for a green-campus initiative in which the newsprint edition would not be published. Emily Cole, the incoming editor, said she was committed to preserving the newsprint edition.

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• May 6

I was summoned again to meet with the provost. Dean Steven Breese also attended. I was asked how I would feel about moving the journalism curriculum into Communication Studies—out of English, out of my control. In short, I said I would cooperate with this, though I clearly would not have initiated such a move. When I asked if the provost had discussed this move with anyone else, he said that he had just discussed it with Linda Baughman, Communication Studies chair, who was very enthusiastic about taking on journalism. My course one course release per academic year, which the newspaper budget funds, would be stripped.

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• May 8

I emailed Linda Baughman, saying that I would cooperate and that we should meet.

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• May 11

I met with Dean Hughes, Student Assembly President and FEB Student Activities Fee Appropriation Committee member Jett Johnson, SMB Chair Matt Davenport, out-going newspaper editor Victoria Shirley and incoming editor Emily Cole. We were given a letter (attached), ostensibly written by Michelle Reed, which demanded that the SMB convert to a club status or be “dissolved, from a budgetary stand point, and have no funding authority moving forward;” that the newspaper must submit a revised budget in which funds allocated for newsprint would be reallocated for technology purchases because the student committee wanted the newspaper to go green. The letter also defunded Currents and The Limelight, and reduced funding for WCNU—all with no consultation whatsoever with the SMB.  In this meeting, I tried to find a compromise between the student journalists, who were upset that newsprint funding was stripped, and the administration, which, as I suggested in the meeting, wanted to be able to get public relations value by claiming that the newspaper was “going green.” (I later reversed my decision on compromise: see: May 17, below.)

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• May 11

Email from Jett Johnson to Victoria Shirley and Emily Cole in which Johnson makes it clear that the “going green” initiative did not come from the student FEB committee. Here is the email:

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From: Jett Johnson

Date: Wed, May 11, 2011 at 5:04 PM
Subject: Follow-Up Regarding FEB Meeting – Please Read
To: [Two Captain’s Log editors]

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[Addressed to editors],

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Thank you for taking the time to attend today’s meeting. I just wanted to follow up with the two of you with a comment.  I do, of course, stand by the decisions of the FEB Allocations Committee, however, I cannot say that I, or the committee, support the “Going Green” initiative. I wanted to make it said that the FEB Allocations Committee did not discuss this issue in any form, so it was completely out of our hands. In fact, I personally do not agree with this initiative, pertaining to your organization, and I feel as though that it is something that the Student Assembly could back the CLOG on in the future if you do pursue action against the “Going Green” idea. The concept of placing “students first” should trump this, as do to the fact that rearranging funds is seemingly a simple PR stunt; so, this process should in no way impede student organizations in negative ways. Obviously I do not know what your future actions will be and I am sure it will be a while before you do as well, however I just wanted to extend the fact that the Student Assembly is here to support the best interests of the student and, to me, this does not seem to be in our best interests.

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Thank you for taking the time for my thoughts,

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Jett Johnson
CNU Student Assembly, President

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• May 13

Email from Linda Baughman to her department and me. She writes that Comm Studies doesn’t want to hire a specialist in journalism—they don’t have one now, either—because it would be “a waste of effort and resources” and because the “field [could] be ‘dead’ in 7-10 years.” The idea developed to create an interdisciplinary journalism minor.

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• May 17

I emailed Dean Hughes saying that the compromises I thought I could propose now seemed to me impossible because of the blatant disregard for the freedom of the press that the Student Media Board was formed in 2007 to ensure. In the email, I said that I refused to accept the conversion of the SMB to a student club and asked that the FEB demands and decisions be retracted and forwarded to the SMB for a thoughtful and timely decision. I wrote to him privately, asking for a meeting to discuss my renewed concerns. Dean Hughes responded in a May 24 email, apologizing for not getting back to me and saying he would in 24-48 hours. As of this writing, he has not.

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• May 26

I met with Matt Davenport, SMB chair, Emily Cole, newspaper editor and Rachel Carter, newspaper business manager to discuss their concerns about the budget and student FEB committee demands. They were relieved when I reported that I had written Dean Hughes, refusing to accept his / FEB’s demands. We learned that Michelle Reed, who works in the Student Activities office and leads the student FEB Student Activities Fee Appropriation Committee, had not written the letter reporting the student committee’s demands (see attached letter) and had never seen it. She asked for a copy.

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Wall Street Journal Article About Student Journalists Makes Me Mad

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal argues that student journalists who report negative news about university sports teams at times have it tough.

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The piece’s co-authors write in the nut graf, “[I]f history is any guide, this sort of reporting takes more nerve than you might think.  Student reporters who paint a school’s sports teams in a negative light have faced ridicule and social isolation. Some have been fired from their posts.”

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Fine.  A fair thesis.  The maddening part: It is built on scant evidence and superficial reporting.  After reading the article, I am unconvinced on any level that what the paper is presenting as a trend is true.

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The piece offers six examples to supposedly flesh out its firing, ridicule, and social isolation points.  Only one mentions a firing, and it is justified.  Meanwhile, allusions to “ridicule and social isolation” are, frankly, lame.

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The WSJ reporters cherry-picked a few high-profile incidents involving coaches and fans getting mad at student journos in recent years for their critical reporting.  There is no mention that these are EXTRAORDINARY incidents– outliers, not the norm. There is no mention of the many professional journos that coaches and fans have gotten similarly mad at over the years (meaning this is not just a student journalist problem).

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There is only a tiny bit of explanation offered as to how the coaches’ and fans’ behavior toward the student journos differs at all from their behavior toward professional journos (AKA why are you writing about just student journos here?). Basically, there is a half-hearted quote from a former Duke University Chronicle editor saying it can be tough to publish something critical and then see readers the next day in class.  But even the quote is non-committal– it talks in generalities about that sort of thing happening but doesn’t offer an actual example of it happening to the Chronicle ed. or anyone else.

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On top of all these shortcomings, the article also does not adequately explain how the angry coaches and fans leave student journalists feeling ridiculed and socially isolated.  The Chronicle editor said it could be “tense” but that’s it.  The Lantern editor currently being threatened at Ohio State is taking it in stride and laughing it off, at least publicly.  And all other student journos alluded to in the examples are not sought out for quotes– at times even when the coaches and athletic officials at the schools were asked to comment (which struck me as odd).

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There is one example highlighted in the piece that seems to play to the reporters’ main points– the Notre Dame football student videographer death– but it’s a fallacy because it’s not really about sports.  It’s about the ethical tightrope of reporting on a student’s death and determining what’s proper to reveal and in what way.  It’s fairly powerful on its own but it does not deserve a place in a piece about negative sports reporting.

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And as it stands, this piece as a whole does not deserve to be published.

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A quick check of the archives reveals: The last time I was this mad with a professional piece on the student press was December 2008.

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College of DuPage Student Newspaper Adviser Removed

Longtime Courier adviser Cathy Stablein at the College of DuPage has been removed from her position, a decision critics are calling a “sly attack on free speech and college media.”  Student staffers at the Illinois community college newspaper are speaking out against the ouster and an online petition has been filed, garnering more than 350 signatures so far.

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In an email to college media advisers, Northern Star adviser Jim Killam at Northern Illinois University wrote:

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“Cathy has been removed from her advising position, with the official reason being the college wants her to spend more time revamping the college’s journalism program. She was told she doesn’t have time to do both (she disagrees). The suspected real reason for this action is that the paper has been doing reporting critical of administration and the school’s board of trustees, and that this is a first step toward eliminating the journalism program. . . . A temporary adviser was appointed this week and– you guessed it– it’s a PR person from the college.”

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The current and most recent former editor of the Courier said the move will “cripple the newspaper.”  In a letter to school officials, they wrote, “[T]he removal of Cathy is an act as shady as it is unwarranted.  This action against her comes a semester term after the Courier effectively found and reported on administration’s shortcomings. Through our publication, we called out administration when it excluded student input, exposed a strategic failing of new signage on campus, and gave recommendations on the Board of Trustees election that administrators clearly did not like among other criticisms.”

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As Student Press Law Center executive director Frank Lomonte confirms, a linkage between her removal and the newspaper’s content would violate the Illinois College Campus Press Act.  “For LoMonte, a good way to gauge the honesty of the administration’s claims is to ask whether they pass the ‘straight-face test,’ an SPLC report noted.  “‘If this decision was really meant to benefit the newspaper, you’d expect it to be done transparently and with the buy-in of those who are affected,’ he said.”

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For a recent AP story, LoMonte said separately, “There are two occupations in America that are more dangerous the better you are at them: journalism adviser and suicide bomber.”

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In this respect, collegemediatopia has not been kind to hard-working advisers lately. Along with Stablein, two other recent adviser removals:

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1) Patriot Talon adviser Vanessa Curry at the University of Texas at Tyler told the Student Press Law Center she was let go due to “complaints.”  She said the nature of the complaints or the individuals making the complaints were not revealed to her. Curry is convinced school officials began targeting her after a Patriot Talon editorial this past semester criticized the school for its lack of communication and maddening “cyclical bureaucracy” surrounding a sudden order for the paper to abandon its newsroom for a new out-of-the-way spot.

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2) Chart adviser T.R. Hanrahan at Missouri Southern State University was fired because administrators “wanted to make a change.”  Hanrahan earned the 2010 Missouri College Media Association Adviser of the Year honor.  In his words, “How did I get so bad at my job in 12 months?”  He was not given any answers.

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