2008 Woodie Awards
Thoughts Written on Napkins
Dan Rosenberg
Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: Opinion
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While I may be somewhat biased in this regard, student media has always struck me as a very important asset to a university. Especially at strong academic institutions such as ours, a vibrant student press should be central to campus life. Student media is important precisely because of the role it fills for students. It is a vehicle for campus issues to be raised and debated in a critical manner, a welcome respite from the confines of corporatized media. Orbis has run feature-length articles on a bevy of campus issues, from living wage to environmentalism. The Torch has run strong articles on campus monopolies. Other publications have done similarly strong work which generates campus discussion and awareness. One role student media should not aspire to, however, is one of cash cow. Indeed, to view student media as a money making venture first and foremost, or as an exercise in business management, is to miss the point of campus media entirely.
This is why, when I saw a 'rant' in the Nov. 30 issue of The Hustler that derided a student publication, I was taken aback. Versus Magazine has been at the center of a recent controversy wherein Vanderbilt Student Communications is planning to eliminate this publication as it exists now and use its funding elsewhere. Were the reason for its termination its lack of critical content, or that it breached the boundaries of decency, perhaps this would be justifiable. The rationale given, however, seems to be one of financial concerns. VSC, which has already cut Versus' funding significantly over the past year, now seeks to cut funding altogether. This funding, which they evidently consider a waste, would go to help InsideVandy improve its Web design.
That Versus has flaws may be true. However, the answer to this problem is not cutting funding or axing the division altogether. Student publications are opportunities for student expression. They should not be a chance for the university to maximize profits from the labor of students. Nor should we think of student media as commodities that must be justified by entrepreneurial standards of efficiency.
This is why, when I saw a 'rant' in the Nov. 30 issue of The Hustler that derided a student publication, I was taken aback. Versus Magazine has been at the center of a recent controversy wherein Vanderbilt Student Communications is planning to eliminate this publication as it exists now and use its funding elsewhere. Were the reason for its termination its lack of critical content, or that it breached the boundaries of decency, perhaps this would be justifiable. The rationale given, however, seems to be one of financial concerns. VSC, which has already cut Versus' funding significantly over the past year, now seeks to cut funding altogether. This funding, which they evidently consider a waste, would go to help InsideVandy improve its Web design.
That Versus has flaws may be true. However, the answer to this problem is not cutting funding or axing the division altogether. Student publications are opportunities for student expression. They should not be a chance for the university to maximize profits from the labor of students. Nor should we think of student media as commodities that must be justified by entrepreneurial standards of efficiency.
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