Crimson White, Daily Bruin roll out new records request trackers

Mazie Bryant and Jillian Beck — editors of The Crimson White and The Daily Bruin, respectively — know how frustrating it can be to get answers out of their universities.So after running into repeated reporting roadblocks, they’ve decided to call attention to their universities’ public records responsiveness by making their records requests more transparent.In newly debuted trackers, The Crimson White and The Daily Bruin now publicize details of the requests they’ve submitted to their institutions.

Red & Black board agrees to give student board members voting rights

A year ago this week, staff of The Red & Black walked out in protest of policies they believed threatened student editorial control. For several days, students and the board of directors, which runs the independent nonprofit newspaper, found themselves at an impasse — culminating with a tense "open house" meeting where the paper's then-general manager got in an altercation with a student journalist covering the event.

Do college newspaper archives matter? Ask Cory Booker.

Hundreds of times a year, phones ring in newsrooms across the country, college and professional alike, with a variation of: "Your archives are ruining my life!"With decades-old back editions being digitized into online-searchable form, youthful indiscretions that seemed to have disappeared into obscurity are Googling their way back into view.

Christian university president defends student newspaper’s right to publish Obama endorsement

We write a lot about principals and college administrators who don't seem to appreciate the value of a free and vigorous student press, so it's nice to write about one who does — Abilene Christian University President Phil Schubert.Last week, the editorial board of the school's student newspaper, The Optimist, endorsed President Barack Obama for a second term. The endorsement sparked debate on the newspaper's website, where some wondered whether the endorsement was at odds with the school's Christian mission.Sunday in the Abilene Reporter-News, Schubert publicly defended the paper's right to publish its endorsement:

Abilene Christian University does not endorse political candidates or parties, so some people reacted with surprise when our student newspaper, the Optimist, recently endorsed a presidential candidate.That provides a great opportunity for me to explain what ACU does endorse: making sure our students receive an education that prepares them to make real choices and engage in independent thought about important issues.... It would be easy to shy away from diverse opinions about difficult subjects, but in so doing, we would remove from our students the opportunity to practice — in a safe environment — for the challenges and experiences that will shape them into these kind of people.
Well said.