University Leader not lost, temporarily relocated online
This will be the first and last issue of the semester for the University Leader.
Following last year’s Student Government Association Allocations process, the paper faced a serious budget cut.
The Leader requested $52,250 for the 2012-13 school year. After looking at estimated base salaries and to-date expenditures for salaries, the Allocations committee cut the amount to $29,015.45.
Once the bill reached the Senate floor, the topic of excess papers on campus became an issue. A $9,250 cut to the publishing fee was then recommended by Sen. Tyler Clark, senior, and approved by a majority vote.
Clark has denied he moved for the cut and declined to comment further.
“I think the funding cut was a huge mistake, it was a careless cut. They don’t think people read us and I don’t know why,” said senior Molly Walter, Editor-in-Chief of the Leader.
It also was proposed the Leader be printed twice monthly rather than once a week to cut down on excess papers.
However, the Leader is in a multi-year contract with the Hays Daily News that is in effect until Aug. 15, 2015.
The contract stipulates that the Leader print once a week for 16 weeks during the fall semester and 15 during the spring semester.
“The senate did not know there was a multi-year contract, and typically we don’t allow organizations to enter into multi-year contracts because we fund individual years and we can’t guarantee that the money will be there,” said senior Jessica Tormey, who served as Allocations chairwoman last year.
She was on the committee for a year before becoming the chairwoman, a position she held for two years. She is currently the treasurer for the Allocations Committee.
This cut the final funding for the Leader to $19,765.45 for the 2012-13 school year.
The projected advertising income for the 2012-13 school year was $15,000. The first se- mester total for ad sales was $5,953.55, about $1,500 below the projected numbers for the first semester.
With the budget constraints and lack of advertising, the paper can no longer afford to run a print edition for the remainder of the semester.
“I think people will be upset, but not upset enough to do anything about it. I think that is a glaring issue with society; they put their issues on Facebook, then go on with their life,” Walter said.
Former students who have worked at the Leader have had little difficulty finding jobs after graduation.
“Not very many other organizations give the real-world experience and it is proven because tons of people who have worked for the Leader have gone out and gotten jobs because of their time at the paper,” Walter said.
The Hays Daily News has given many former and current members of the Leader jobs after graduation or during their time at Fort Hays State University.
“I think campus newspapers are a critical part of the education one receives at college if they are going into journalism. It is a laboratory or training ground,” said Patrick Lowry, publisher of The Hays Daily News.
The Hays Daily News employs 13 full-time staff members who are Fort Hays graduates. Two current staff members of the Leader work part-time at the Daily, one as a photographer and one as a writer.
“What the Leader does for us is put students out in the public and see where the desire is to work in the field. It is much easier for us to identify who on campus has interest in this craft,” Lowry said. “Without it, we don’t get to see who is interested.”
Responding to a long-rumored online-only version of the University Leader, Lowry questioned its validity in a college environment.
“Going to a digital-only version is fine if that’s what the audience is demanding,” Lowry said. “I don’t see the Leader’s audience demanding that.”
The Leader runs an online version of the paper in conjunction with the printed version.
With the paper’s doors closed for the remainder of the semester, at least, the future remains in question.
“I know that in the professional news business, the integrated model is becoming more a fact of life,” President Edward Hammond said.
Hammond’s plans for the Leader are uncertain at this point.
“I haven’t made up my mind,” Hammond said. “I don’t know what the answer is for the environment here. I’m committed to trying to find out what the best solution is and try to build that model and integrate it next year at Fort Hays State University,”
Hammond said he plans to set up an internal task force to look at the news needs of campus and the best way to meet those needs.
The task force will survey students and faculty and will report back.
“How do we utilize all of the technology and modalities available to give the students the news and information to be successful in this world?” Hammond said.
He stressed the importance of convening the task force in a timely manner so a new system can be set in place by fall.
“We will use that information exchange to help build our model and implement that model next year the best we can,” Hammond said.
“We will also look at the curriculum side of what we do because if the world is changing, we also need to change the curriculum to change with it,” Hammond said.
The Leader was at one time offered as a one credit-hour lab that was required for all journalism majors, but could be taken by anyone interested in being part of the newspaper.
“Why would you have a journalism department with no hands-on experience?” Walter said of the paper’s shift away from an academic tie-in. “It is like having an art depart- ment, but not giving the students the opportunity to paint.”
Hammond will also hold a symposium with experts in local and national media.
“Students who are interested can come to that discussion and participate in the discussion,” Hammond said.
Several students, including members of Student Government, said they would like to see the university continue printing a paper.
“The only thing I have heard is that there are always papers wasted and with the big sustainability movement, a lot of people have commented there are a lot of wasted papers,” said senior SGA member Kelly Nuckolls.
Nuckolls is also the student coordinator for the Center for Civic Leadership.
“I think it is important to have a paper,” Nuckolls said. “I know, not just as a student coordinator at the center, but when I was involved in Up ‘Til Dawn and other organizations on campus, it was really nice to have that tool to advertise and know what other organizations are doing so we can plan with them.”
Other students said a campus paper provides them a portal to information they might otherwise miss.
“I think it is important to have a paper on campus for the students who don’t make it to events. I think it is good for students to look at what is going on on campus and feel connected. I feel like it needs to be printed, just not as many copies,” said sophomore Tre’ Giles, a member of SGA.
While the future of the print edition of the Leader remains to be seen, the staff has applied for allocations for the 2013-14 school year.
Until then, a few staff members will continue to publish stories online for the remainder of the semester.
Tyler Parks, excellent article my friend. This highlights the best the University Leader has to offer, and in my opinion is one of the best articles I’ve seen in this paper in quite some time. I can only hope that the Leader gets to turn the presses back on for next year, because a university without a newspaper is strange, and quite frankly, embarrassing. That being said, I am excited to see how this semester develops and strengthens the Leader as both an online and printed publication. Dr. Hammond is completely correct in expressing necessity for a reevaluation of what it takes to create a successful newspaper in such a digital age, and that going all-digital is not necessarily the correct option.
And as for the bantering below regarding Tyler Clark’s comment, this strikes up as much embarrassment as our school not having a newspaper. To think that such comments would be made toward the Leader staff and paper in general would almost make you believe this is a high school newsletter, not an award-winning publication as Eric stated. And as much as I hate to agree with the use of the word “vendetta,” I too have never understood Mr. Clark’s constant antagonism toward this newspaper. I hate to inform you, Mr. Clark, that no one here is hiding behind a pen or a computer screen… The fact stands that this is a written publication. If you’d like to extend your limelight further, I’d recommend trying to pick fights with a local TV outlet and see if you can get an on-screen interview. I have no intention of entering the field of journalism whatsoever, but I would be more than proud to show possible employers my work in this poor excuse for a publication. And as a final note, the anonymous comment below nails it when she says:
It is both laughable and disturbing that you can attack this newspaper so freely, when so many people are noticing the lack of professionalism and decency that you chastise the Leader for.
I can’t wait to see where this publication ends up next year, and I will be supporting it the whole way through. Go Tigers.
Tyler Clark:
After reading your ridiculous defense of your self I can only ask one thing. If you ever want to give off the idea of being even slightly professional stop wearing your cowboy hat and chewing tobacco during senate meetings.
I was closely involved in last year’s debacle when the Leader’s funding was cut. It is my opinion that certain members of senate have personal vendettas against the Leader. Another point I would like to make regarding criticism of the Leader is that our students are writing this and gaining experience from it. Every article isn’t going to be at the level of the WSJ.
*I’m not employed by the Leader
As a former high school, college and professional journalist – and a high school journalism teacher – I understand quite well the realities of budget challenges and the need to adapt to changing times. I suspect there is more to this story than is posted here and am disappointed the Leader staff could not find an alternative to shutting down the paper altogether.
Get your facts right Parks, after you called the wrong phone number multiple times asking for me and bothering me at work you would think that you would at least have the knowledge needed to print a factual article. I told you that I would not like to comment on the issue, but I gave you the information you needed to write your bias piece. I did not propose the cut (you can watch the KFHS piece and see that). I did support the cut, and its pieces like this that make my decision an even better case in point.
Tyler,
I think your attitude is far too rude. It’s not Tyler Parks’s fault that your official phone number, as listed on TigerTracks, is not correct. If you were unaware, you can change that information in “Contact Information” under the “Online Services” tab in Tigertracks. The article explicitly states that you offered no comment, so I’m not sure what your issue is there. Also, I don’t know what a “bias piece” is but I can assure you that we strive for journalistic integrity and a lack of bias, both of which I think are apparent in Tyler Parks’s article. Please remember that this is a public forum and we like to keep comments civil and polite. Everyone in the world can see your comments, and potential future employers may be offended by your brusque nature.
Thanks for commenting!
I think you have become far too good at hiding behind a pen or a computer screen. If you would like to visit about what a legitimate news source is maybe the two of us ought sit down and talk. Also I don’t see myself working for any employer who reads this poor excuse for a publication. The type of people that I tend to associate with speak face to face, and unfortunately your door was locked today.
We’re students, too, Tyler. Our office is closed when we’re in class. I’d love to sit down with you and talk about your idea of a legitimate news source and why exactly you think the Leader is a poor excuse for a publication. Look me up.
Tyler,
This is an award-winning newspaper. We received a silver medal in collegiate journalism as recently as last year. More anecdotally, literally every person I’ve ever spoken to agrees that the Leader is now better written and edited than any time in recent memory. How that constitutes a “poor excuse for a newspaper” is beyond me and speaks volumes about your lack of knowledge about this industry. I, too, would be interested in talking to you directly. Maybe we could come to understand one another better, because your seemingly groundless vendetta against this publication has always perplexed me.
I’d like to add my two cents, here.
Tyler, I never saw myself working for an employer who would require me to wear pencil skirts and button-down blouses daily, instead of my much-loved, worn-in jeans and Brooks running shoes; alas, sometimes, we find ourselves having to lower our standards just a bit–especially in an economy like ours–to simply find employment. I would love to be a fly on the wall, though, when you ask future interviewers whether or not they read this “poor excuse” of a paper.
While we’re on the topic of “poor excuses,” I’d like to add that you are a “poor excuse” of an SGA representative, in this instance. Whether or not you still serve on the infamous SGA council, you have regrettably represented the other members of this council in an unpleasant manner with your childish diatribe.
You would do well, Mr. Clark, to choose your battles wisely–and to proofread your comments before posting. There are several errors in your typing. But, of course, you are only human! Much like the students that comprise the Leader staff.