In defiance of the archetype of rebellious youth, student groups have entered into a partnership with the university administration.
This partnership, detailed on page 2 of this week’s Clarion, establishes and funds a faculty advisor for the Clarion and establishes an oversight board to monitor student media. The board will be a bulwark of accountability and force student media to act responsibly.The funding for the advisor will come from the leftover, rolled-over finances from the student activity fee. Thus, no new monies have been allocated, and instead, unused funds have been wisely reassigned.
This partnership should stand as the cornerstone in a new era of student-administrative relations and mark a turning point for all student groups on campus.If the Clarion and other groups can work with the administration instead of actively opposing them, imagine what work can be done on campus.
Student media needs an advisor for many reasons—to offer professional counseling, to supervise and oversee the content of the newspaper and finally to give students real-world advice based on his/her experience in the field.This is what the Clarion has in Andrew Matranga; we are very anxious to be to working with this energetic, results-oriented young professional.
His drive and fresh ideas do not diminish the past struggles of the Clarion, but rather provide us a framework for future progress. This is also not to say that previous advisors were inadequate—but rather should illustrate that previous advisors operated under a system which was neither sustainable in terms of funding, nor institutional support from DU.
The new direction in which the university is embarking is one of forward-thinking positivity, and reflects a shift from previous policy, which seemed, at best, uninterested towards student media, and, at worst, uncommitted to a robust student-run, student-funded news outlet.
But that is behind us now.
No media outlet is without flaws—indeed, the learning process and constant improvements define the Clarion. As an imperfect product of student journalism, we will falter.
We will make mistakes.To that end, though, I promise our readers and the larger community nothing short of our finest effort, our hardest travail and our most genuine commitment to serving the students, alumni, faculty and family of this university.
