Tuskegee student editor speaks out
J.J. McCorvey (Black College Wire)
Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: theWORD
A college newspaper should convey the truth and should be a catalyst for change.
Students should be able to view the newspaper as their collective voice issued regularly, without hindrance and free from outside influence. Sadly, at Tuskegee University, this is not the case.
For nearly two years, I have experienced unbelievable frustration as the managing editor of the Campus Digest, and this frustration is shared with the editor-in-chief, the staff, and those of the student body who are disappointed each month when their school newspaper is absent from the stands.
The general reason for most of the problems that plague the Digest is that Tuskegee, one of the most prestigious historically black institutions of higher learning, does not have a communications or journalism program. In fact, there is not even one journalism course.
But this does not mean that our school newspaper cannot and should not be nurtured into something great. There are dedicated students on the staff who firmly believe this; however, it seems as though the Tuskegee University administration does not.
Two computers sit in our office -- one that has basic word processing and Internet available, and one that barely starts up. Neither is capable of any page design for our newspaper. Our four graphic designers share one laptop from the administration's Office of Marketing and Communications. This gets tedious, of course, as I have, on many occasions, driven on and off campus transporting this one laptop to different designers.
When the staff was notified that we would finally be receiving a new computer, we were all elated, and looked forward to a drastic improvement in the design process. Imagine my disappointment as I opened the box to find only a CPU -- a computer with no monitor. That was in November. The CPU still sits without a monitor to this day. It doesn't work with our old, outdated monitors.
Most of the time, however, equipment dilemmas seem to be the very least of our concerns. The absence of a communications or journalism program means the Campus Digest is supervised and funded directly under the school's administration. Even our adviser is an administrator within the Office of Marketing and Communications.
Students should be able to view the newspaper as their collective voice issued regularly, without hindrance and free from outside influence. Sadly, at Tuskegee University, this is not the case.
For nearly two years, I have experienced unbelievable frustration as the managing editor of the Campus Digest, and this frustration is shared with the editor-in-chief, the staff, and those of the student body who are disappointed each month when their school newspaper is absent from the stands.
The general reason for most of the problems that plague the Digest is that Tuskegee, one of the most prestigious historically black institutions of higher learning, does not have a communications or journalism program. In fact, there is not even one journalism course.
But this does not mean that our school newspaper cannot and should not be nurtured into something great. There are dedicated students on the staff who firmly believe this; however, it seems as though the Tuskegee University administration does not.
Two computers sit in our office -- one that has basic word processing and Internet available, and one that barely starts up. Neither is capable of any page design for our newspaper. Our four graphic designers share one laptop from the administration's Office of Marketing and Communications. This gets tedious, of course, as I have, on many occasions, driven on and off campus transporting this one laptop to different designers.
When the staff was notified that we would finally be receiving a new computer, we were all elated, and looked forward to a drastic improvement in the design process. Imagine my disappointment as I opened the box to find only a CPU -- a computer with no monitor. That was in November. The CPU still sits without a monitor to this day. It doesn't work with our old, outdated monitors.
Most of the time, however, equipment dilemmas seem to be the very least of our concerns. The absence of a communications or journalism program means the Campus Digest is supervised and funded directly under the school's administration. Even our adviser is an administrator within the Office of Marketing and Communications.
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