Emory Report
November 23, 2009
Volume 23, Number 11



Minority voices speak in Black Star magazine
Students Ian McCall and others created Black Star magazine to fill the gap left when Emory’s black student newspaper ceased publication in 2003. “I felt like the voice on campus still existed, but the microphone was gone,” says editor-in-chief McCall.

Read about how the Black Star staff are making news in Emory Magazine.

   

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November 23, 2009
Oxford students resurrect The Spokesman

By Cathy Wooten


Those who worry about the death of the newspaper can take encouragement from what’s happening on the Oxford College campus. After a publication hiatus, The Spokesman, Oxford’s student newspaper, is back in production and going strong. There are some changes from prior iterations, the most noticeable being that the publication is produced only in an online version — a format that reflects 21st-century trends and realities.

The exact date The Spokesman began publication is difficult to nail down, but Neil Penn, emeritus professor of history at Oxford, helped with a revival of the publication in the fall of 1966, following a similar break in publishing. From there a long run began, with first Penn and later Gretchen Schulz, Oxford professor of English, serving as advisers to the student journalists. Over the years, the paper received numerous awards from the Georgia College Press Association. One of its editors in the 1980s was then-student Kenneth Carter, now an Oxford professor of psychology and president of the University Senate and Faculty Council. Eventually the local company that had printed the paper closed, and the technology to create a newspaper changed; these and other factors led to the paper’s languishing earlier this decade.

The movement to bring back a regular newspaper gathered momentum when Oxford began offering courses in journalism in the fall of 2008. The classes, taught by Lucas Carpenter, Charles Howard Candler Professor of English, were naturally filled by students with an interest in creating a newspaper.

“It’s important that students have their own news vehicle,” says Carpenter. “It’s part of a vibrant campus.”

With his encouragement a student staff was formed and an editor elected. The first issues appeared on the Oxford Web site in spring semester 2009. Prior to the semester’s end, the newspaper’s staff elected rising sophomores Courtney Ward and Mark Rozeman co-editors for the 2009-2010 year. They and other Spokesman staff met with Michelle Lee, editor of the Emory Wheel, and other Wheel staffers to discuss common ground and possible crossover stories.

This fall The Spokesman has a new look and a more regular publishing schedule, twice a month while classes are in session. Ward and Rozeman have a staff of about 15 permanent writers and two staff photographers. Stories and editorials are strictly student-produced.

“We’ve proven we’re dedicated,” says Rozeman, and Ward adds, “The Spokesman is here to stay.”