Student Journalism

College and University Papers

The first campus newspaper in the United States was a weekly established at Dartmouth College in 1839. The Yale Daily News began publishing in 1873, and still appears at the New Haven, Connecticut – based university. While the first weekly newspaper at Harvard was established in 1856, the Harvard Crimson did not go daily until 1883. By the late [Page 1349]nineteenth century, most colleges and universities had at least a weekly newspaper and many already had daily ones. Through the twentieth century, as educational opportunities and institutions expanded, the number, size, and frequency of student newspapers increased as well.

Early collegiate newspapers were small and self-sustaining, having minimal staff, and only limited circulations to support their small budgets. As the size of universities expanded, this press model began to shift. Newspapers, as well as other campus publications, began to depend on student activities fees for their expanding budgets. With schools directly funding campus publications, publication boards of campus administrators were often established to oversee the allocation of funds and, sometimes, the activities of the publications. In some instances, the newspaper and other campus publications were overseen by journalism departments. This dependency on university funds has often caused tension between student editors and school administrators, who may try to influence the content of the publication.

The relationship between publication and school may indicate not only the role the publication has in the school community but also its financial structure. Such relationships can take one of three forms: direct control, amorphous, or independent. With the direct control model the student newspaper is directly controlled by the administration. An amorphous situation occurs when the student newspaper is dependent on university funds but is governed by students. And the independent model is exactly that, as the publication does not receive school funds. Many of the oldest and most respected student publications, such as the Harvard Crimson and Yale Daily News, are independent.

Regardless of the financial relationship, a paper's student staff is usually comprised of volunteers with little experience. While student publications provide a training ground for students who aspire to a career in journalism, relatively few student journalists continue in the profession. Student publications try to retain staff members by offering scholarships, stipends, and other forms of compensation if possible.

Student journalists are all subject to the same legal standards to which professional journalists are bound, such as libel. But students were not always granted First Amendment protection. In the United States, students began to challenge this imbalance in the 1960s and 1970s. The landmark case that established students' right of free expression was Tinker v. Des Moines Community School District (1969). Though not specifically concerned with student journalists, the decision established the student journalist's rights of free speech.

...