When I was told about the Journalism Program’s plan to start a Purchase news Web site (much like…oh! The Brick!) I was not nearly as frazzled as many of my co-workers. “Compete or destroy!” said Josh, pounding his hand with his fist. There was talk of the extravagant budget, the competition! But for those of you who don’t know the history of publishing within the Journalism Department, or The Brick, let’s start from the beginning.
I’m the creator and editor-in-chief of The Brick, but I used to be a miserable Lisa Keller slave at a little publication known as the Dispatch, the Journalism Program’s monthly newspaper. After barely surviving her reign of terror (no exaggeration), I approached the Dean of Humanities about a Journalism program sponsored, student-run Web site. Dean Levin assured me, apologetically, that it was in the Journalism Program’s “five-year-plan.” I’m not one for waiting so I brought my plea to the PSGA. That began a long uphill battle (mostly involving Adam Tyrell doing all in his power to make my life hell) but it was a battle we won.
That was 2007, and in two short years we’ve come a long way, baby. We’ve doubled our staff and our executive positions, and are growing in readership by the day. Here at The Brick we don’t just pump out fluff news and cute videos. Kylie (my assistant editor and soon to be big chief) and I sit on PSGA committees. We have other responsibilities, as a news source and as a PSGA service, to the campus community.
So upon hearing about this new Web site I didn’t want to jump to any major conclusions until I sat down with my pal Ross Daly, new head of the Journalism Department. Now let me say this: Ross Daly is a good guy. He’s the Barack Obama of Humanities in the sense that he inherited a real shit show and doesn’t have a lot of resources to fix it, but he’s trying his damndest.
But Prof. Daly’s idea was to create a professor-managed news Web site for the Journalism Department, funded by the Humanities Departments’ already stretched budget and the athletic department (bias much?). It is all in the hopes of creating what, I would argue successfully, already exists. His idea that our little news-Web site-that-could would be willing to just fall back into the folds of the unsteady at best Journalism department and merge, is, to be subtle, preposterous.
This plan is haphazard at best, and insulting and out of touch at worst. Purchase students have always made it clear that they do not trust products of the administration. It’s hard to trust, or take seriously for that matter, “news” that would be edited by “those in charge.” It leads one to wonder what unflattering, yet pertinent information, will be edited out, or omitted entirely for that matter, while funding comes from the athletic department (an organization that most of the school -- arguably -- doesn’t want here in the first.)
The point is, The Brick is here to stay and we are here for you. We are written and published by students, run by students, endorsed by students and read by students. We answer to no one but you, and that’s the way we intend to stay.
Love always, your editor,
Amber van Natten
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