School newspaper? Teacher views?

I attend a small private college in eastern North Carolina called Mount Olive College. This past fall I became the editorial editor of the schools online student run newspaper The Trojan Times. The paper has always had a hard time keeping writers but this semester is killing me. I am writing most of the material on top of the other responsibilities that go along with being the editor. I have spoken with the English department here on campus and they don't know of anyway to help me. Do any of you teachers have any input? Do you have a paper at your high school/university? How is it run? Any feedback would help me at this point.

I'm not a teacher, but I can appreciate the situation you're in. I don't have anything earth-shattering to suggest or any magic fixes, but some things that come to mind are:

--Be shameless in asking people. Use guilt on your friends, threats on your enemies. Be persistent and when some doesn't have the decency to say "No" take it to mean "Yes" and hold them to it.

--Be specific when asking people. "Do you want to help with the newspaper?" is vague. That means it is a) intimidating (exactly what will I have to do?) and b) it is impossible to enforce. Ask "Will you write an article on the soccer team?" or "Can you do a weekly column?" or "Will you help proofread every Friday?" It lets people know exactly what they are getting into and you can hold them to it.

--Be creative in finding writers. Ask the English Department if you can address each of their classes for 1 minute about the newspaper. See if they might be interested in tying an assignment into writing for it or if there can be someway writing for the paper can replace a project or be extra credit or something. Do you have other literary groups (poetry clubs, etc.)? Ask their members. Do you have a freshman orientation class? See if you can tie in with them somehow, so at least every freshman knows there is a paper. If you want stories about the sports team see if someone on the team or close to would write it, and etc. so each group can contribute to their own publicity.



At least half these ideas should be tossed out because they just won't apply to you and Mt. Olive, but maybe something I mentioned here will pan out.

I'll mention this to my sister next time we talk. She edited the newspaper at Concordia University Wisconsin for a year or two and may have some ideas.

Best of Luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by togre

to it.

--Be creative in finding writers. Ask the English Department if you can address each of their classes for 1 minute about the newspaper. See if they might be interested in tying an assignment into writing for it or if there can be someway writing for the paper can replace a project or be extra credit or something. Do you have other literary groups (poetry clubs, etc.)? Ask their members. Do you have a freshman orientation class? See if you can tie in with them somehow, so at least every freshman knows there is a paper. If you want stories about the sports team see if someone on the team or close to would write it, and etc. so each group can contribute to their own publicity.

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I think this is a great suggestion, especially for getting op ed pieces. There should be no shortage of students with an opinion on something. Also, track down the political science classes. Not only will you probably find people to do op ed, but more may be interested in doing other, more "newspaperly" duties.

Other than what's suggested, maybe bribery? I don't know how far your powers over the paper go, but maybe tell the English majors that for every so-many articles they write, they can put in a piece of poetry or short story.

I can't add anything that togre didn't cover, except I want to say that the attitude of most teachers toward a student publicaton in high school is they will act as advisors and they will check the publication before it is published to make sure there is nothing offensive in it. Offensive to them means anything directed to a certain teacher or member of the administration, or anything that is refering to a certain teacher.

I would find the most cantankerous, curmudgeonly, argumentative professor on the campus and I would offer him a "guest editorial" section. It would be thoughtful to say the least. I would do likewise with a handful of students. How about the greek student body president on stereotypes regarding the greek system? How about an article by a student-athlete on what his/her typical day looks like?

Just some things to consider.