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Post by sarasota on Sept 8, 2016 6:15:55 GMT -5
This sounds elitist but.....if you're not Liberal Arts educated, you are not educated. Have you noticed that when you interact with another Lib Arts grad there is a certain connection that happens, difficult to describe.
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Post by CHC8485 on Sept 8, 2016 10:39:20 GMT -5
The Crusader is a student run paper. If there are no students interested in running it ... My understanding is in the last few years there were only a handful of students who did everything for the paper, including writing multiple stories and used pen names. Times change. How many of you even get a daily newspaper? Why would a 20 year old want to write for - much less organize and run - something they see as obsolete. Newspapers (and TV & Radio) reporting is not what it once was. Watch the local and evening news. IMO very little news is reported. It's gossip and entertainment. Even that which is news - say coverage of presidential candidates - is hardly reporting. It's sensationalized for entertainment to drive ratings. How do you do that for the latest news on the hill? BREAKING NEWS - The Luth Athletic Center ... Still Under Coonstruction!
EXCLUSIVE REPORT - History Professor moving into the Development Office! With Facebook, texts, instagram, snap chat, and e-mail, the students know it all as soon as it happens. They can write and publish their opinion any time, without an editor, on multiple platforms. There are other online outlets for writing - more opinion than news - that students use that are not affiliated with college. So the concept of a weekly newspaper is anachronistic on a campus with 2900 18 - 22 year olds. To me, the real meaning of the loss of the newspaper, is that much easily accessable primary and scondary source history of the college will cease to exist. I beleive, the College should explore and possibly encourage students to develop an online news source with daily reports, blogs, maybe even podcasts that appeals to current students. You won't need 20 pages of content a day or even a week, a stories or 2 a day will work. It should be edited, have different themes or sections. Opinion. Faculty could contribute. The college could archive it,etc. Allow this type of writing (and hopefully reporting) to become relevant to today's students and they will respond to it.
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Post by hchoops on Sept 8, 2016 11:21:27 GMT -5
Logical, but it would not be the same as the Crusader archives are for us old timers who wrote for it.
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Post by CHC8485 on Sept 8, 2016 11:42:12 GMT -5
No, it would not.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Sept 9, 2016 6:36:36 GMT -5
There are many reasons for having a campus newspaper, but I'll highlight two.
1.) Without a newspaper, the delivery of information is fragmented, coming as it does from different sources. Either there is a blizzard of campus-wide, broadcast emails from every source seeking to 'inform' every student about this or that, or the information has to be sought out by the individual student subscribing to a Facebook page, or a Twitter feed, or a Yahoo group.
How, for example, does a student interested in HC basketball know about the program, future games and opponents, and past games? What if a student doesn't 'subscribe' to news and information on the athletic department's website? A whole season could go by with a student having little or no awareness of what was happening in the basketball program. With a student newspaper, every issue during the season would provide a point of information, even if it was glossed over or unread.
2.) A student newspaper should be the voice of the students. Otherwise, the news, information, and messaging is formulated and delivered by the administration of the college. (Such an arrangement can be seen as the hallmark of a totalitarian regime.) Has anyone ever read a contrary view in a missive from TPTB? Does ADNP offer a differing perspective on fates and fortunes to creep into reporting on athletics, a particular team, or an individual game? ______________________ If the current generation of college students is so self-absorbed that they have neither the time nor interest in publishing a campus newspaper, perhaps the college ought to provide stipends to entice a cadre of writers and editors. _____________________
Given the iTunes store, and everyone curating their own playlists, I can understand the decline of campus radio.
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Post by hchoops on Sept 9, 2016 7:00:55 GMT -5
The Crusader is a student run paper. If there are no students interested in running it ... My understanding is in the last few years there were only a handful of students who did everything for the paper, including writing multiple stories and used pen names. Times change. How many of you even get a daily newspaper? Why would a 20 year old want to write for - much less organize and run - something they see as obsolete. Newspapers (and TV & Radio) reporting is not what it once was. Watch the local and evening news. IMO very little news is reported. It's gossip and entertainment. Even that which is news - say coverage of presidential candidates - is hardly reporting. It's sensationalized for entertainment to drive ratings. How do you do that for the latest news on the hill? BREAKING NEWS - The Luth Athletic Center ... Still Under Coonstruction!
EXCLUSIVE REPORT - History Professor moving into the Development Office! With Facebook, texts, instagram, snap chat, and e-mail, the students know it all as soon as it happens. They can write and publish their opinion any time, without an editor, on multiple platforms. There are other online outlets for writing - more opinion than news - that students use that are not affiliated with college. So the concept of a weekly newspaper is anachronistic on a campus with 2900 18 - 22 year olds. To me, the real meaning of the loss of the newspaper, is that much easily accessable primary and scondary source history of the college will cease to exist. I beleive, the College should explore and possibly encourage students to develop an online news source with daily reports, blogs, maybe even podcasts that appeals to current students. You won't need 20 pages of content a day or even a week, a stories or 2 a day will work. It should be edited, have different themes or sections. Opinion. Faculty could contribute. The college could archive it,etc. Allow this type of writing (and hopefully reporting) to become relevant to today's students and they will respond to it. Does this mean that it is definite that there is no more Crusader ?
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Post by JRGNYR on Sept 9, 2016 7:27:09 GMT -5
I'm not saying that Holy Cross' liberal arts education is not valuable. My argument is that if an institution chooses not to align a major or course of study with a student activity that perhaps lends itself to such, such as the Crusader to a journalism major or WCHC to a broadcasting major, the institution runs a higher risk of those types of activities losing interest amongst the student body. We're all agreeing that it's a shame that the Crusader and WCHC don't appear to be doing well. I'm providing a possible reason, however unpopular it might be.
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Post by CHC8485 on Sept 9, 2016 7:36:29 GMT -5
The Crusader is a student run paper. If there are no students interested in running it ... My understanding is in the last few years there were only a handful of students who did everything for the paper, including writing multiple stories and used pen names. Times change. How many of you even get a daily newspaper? Why would a 20 year old want to write for - much less organize and run - something they see as obsolete. Newspapers (and TV & Radio) reporting is not what it once was. Watch the local and evening news. IMO very little news is reported. It's gossip and entertainment. Even that which is news - say coverage of presidential candidates - is hardly reporting. It's sensationalized for entertainment to drive ratings. How do you do that for the latest news on the hill? BREAKING NEWS - The Luth Athletic Center ... Still Under Coonstruction!
EXCLUSIVE REPORT - History Professor moving into the Development Office! With Facebook, texts, instagram, snap chat, and e-mail, the students know it all as soon as it happens. They can write and publish their opinion any time, without an editor, on multiple platforms. There are other online outlets for writing - more opinion than news - that students use that are not affiliated with college. So the concept of a weekly newspaper is anachronistic on a campus with 2900 18 - 22 year olds. To me, the real meaning of the loss of the newspaper, is that much easily accessable primary and scondary source history of the college will cease to exist. I beleive, the College should explore and possibly encourage students to develop an online news source with daily reports, blogs, maybe even podcasts that appeals to current students. You won't need 20 pages of content a day or even a week, a stories or 2 a day will work. It should be edited, have different themes or sections. Opinion. Faculty could contribute. The college could archive it,etc. Allow this type of writing (and hopefully reporting) to become relevant to today's students and they will respond to it. Does this mean that it is definite that there is no more Crusader ? No. I have no knowledge if that is true or not. I do know that in recent years, the number of students involved with/interested in writing for and producing the Crusader has dwindled and if it is no longer produced it is likely due to lack of interest.
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Post by JRGNYR on Sept 9, 2016 7:39:27 GMT -5
While it is too bad that JRG and Sarasota encountered some people in the insurance industry that were "bad actors" or "everything but ethical," that can assuredly be found in every industry, including the medical and legal professions. But like those, in insurance, the number is very small. Insurance has a number of professional organizations with stiff ethical standards. This is true - I've encountered bad apples in every industry in which I've worked. There's no segment of life in which they don't exist.
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Post by rgs318 on Sept 9, 2016 8:00:09 GMT -5
Logical, but it would not be the same as the Crusader archives are for us old timers who wrote for it. Dragging myself into town (a basement as I remember it) to do the final layout was always a challenge. It seemed to be right before some test or assignment due date.
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Post by hc811215 on Sept 9, 2016 8:17:56 GMT -5
Having two kids at HC graduating in '12 and '15, I saw that the Crusader really had fallen on hard times. It did not appear to be printed weekly (IIRC, only a few times a semester) and the quality wasn't great. It may have fallen out of favor because college students don't read newspapers much. If there is one thing kids do less than read newspapers, it is listen to FM radio. Most kids get their music from Spotify or Pandora or other internet connections. Also, with so much video streaming of sports content, there are few kids today listening to sports on the radio. All that being said, it is a sad turn of events, and I hope the school can give opportunities for online publications going forward.
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Post by sarasota on Sept 10, 2016 3:17:32 GMT -5
Of course, at least four former Crusader writers went on to very successful professional careers in media, Simmons, Shaughnessy, Clark Booth and Paul LaCamera. Maybe that says something.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Sept 10, 2016 5:25:23 GMT -5
Of course, at least four former Crusader writers went on to very successful professional careers in media, Simmons, Shaughnessy, Clark Booth and Paul LaCamera. Maybe that says something. I don't know whether he wrote for the Crusader, but Dave Anderson '51, would, IMO, be atop the pyramid, having won the Pulitrzer. partners.nytimes.com/library/sports/backtalk/bio-anderson.html
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Post by CHC8485 on Sept 10, 2016 6:39:49 GMT -5
Anderson wrote for The Tomahawk - the paper's name before it was changed to The Crusader in 1955 - and was Sports Editor.
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Post by Tom on Sept 10, 2016 9:57:25 GMT -5
Does this mean that it is definite that there is no more Crusader ? No. I have no knowledge if that is true or not. I do know that in recent years, the number of students involved with/interested in writing for and producing the Crusader has dwindled and if it is no longer produced it is likely due to lack of interest. IIRC, a few years ago CHC8485 pointed out that our fathers made the same observations about the telegraph club
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Post by sarasota on Sept 10, 2016 12:40:19 GMT -5
How could I forget Anderson! That's quite a pantheon from such a small academy on a hill.
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Post by clmetsfan on Sept 13, 2016 10:00:54 GMT -5
Speaking to some ex-classmates-turned-HC employees, it seems that the Crusader is not dead, despite the fact that the domain was mismanaged and allowed to expire. That being said, it sounds like the paper remains on life support the way it's been for the past few years.
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Post by lou on Sept 13, 2016 10:18:13 GMT -5
Thehccrusader.edu is available
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Sept 13, 2016 11:40:30 GMT -5
lou, I believe using the .edu domain would remove any independence from the college.
thecrusader.com appears to be owned by a software guy in San Francisco, probably just parking the name.
thecrusader.org looks to be available.
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Post by sader1970 on Sept 25, 2016 10:47:44 GMT -5
While on campus yesterday, my wife found and picked up a copy of " The Crusader" Volume XCIV, number 1 with a September 16, 2016 date. So it is alive, but maybe not well. Headlines" "Holy Cross Explores Institutional History" with a picture of newly renamed "Brooks-Mulledy Hall." Also: "Contemplative Center Officially Opens." Also, "Administrative Transitions" tells of Frank Vellaccio and Jackie Peterson stepping down from their respective posts as senior VP and VP of Student Affairs. Among Frank's former duties was overseeing Admissions and Athletics, so whenever we have those little discussions about Ann McDermott and athletics admissions, Frank has always lurked in the background. Frank is my age and I've talked to him off and on about the benefits of retirement ( ). Dean Freije is becoming provost, a position Frank had years ago before he was promoted/demoted (?) to senior VP. Of course Frank had also served as acting president between Fr. Reedy and Fr. McFarland's tenures. Frank stays on assisting the Office of Advancement.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Sept 26, 2016 7:21:24 GMT -5
sader1970, thanks for the update. Let us hope that a resurrection is underway, even if the newspaper becomes more of a monthly. The twitter account is moribund, and the last post on Facebook was a year ago. 2015 was the 90th anniversary of the college newspaper. __________________ As for the news, according to the college's website, Frank V. is still clinging on to his vice-presidency. No provost that I can find.
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Post by WCHC Sports on Sept 26, 2016 15:54:02 GMT -5
WCHC, die hard. 88.1 FM.
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Post by sader1970 on Sept 26, 2016 17:51:21 GMT -5
From the hard copy in front of me: "Fr. Boroughs has appointed Margaret Freije, Ph.D, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College, as provost, effective July 1, 2017." [emphasis added] Since it happens 10 months from now, that may be the reason not on the website but the news should be. Was this a "scoop" by the student newspaper?!
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Post by carlin96 on Sept 30, 2016 9:24:33 GMT -5
Good to see. I love the Crusader and pick it up whenever I'm on campus!
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Post by mrizzo17 on Feb 13, 2017 22:05:41 GMT -5
sader1970, thanks for the update. Let us hope that a resurrection is underway, even if the newspaper becomes more of a monthly. The twitter account is moribund, and the last post on Facebook was a year ago. 2015 was the 90th anniversary of the college newspaper. Hello everyone! I realize I'm late to the party, but I'm one of the current editors-in-chief of The Crusader, and I want to reassure those who have expressed concern that a "resurrection" is indeed underway. Here's a brief update for the alumni: Over the past several years, some changes in leadership and budgetary constraints have reduced the paper from 16 pages down to 12, and additionally have reduced our circulation to 8-9 issues per semester instead of 10-11. However, since I assumed the EIC position this past summer, we've focused on increasing quality student content and cutting down on advertisements and other "filler" material, which has allowed us to produce essentially the same amount of content as before. The editorial board has also grown to nearly 40 students with other regular contributors, so thankfully The Crusader is alive and well in terms of student interest and participation. As far as our online and social media presence, we've seen better days--as others have pointed out, the web domain was "mismanaged" and finally expired last year after several years of half-hearted or non-existent updates. But I'm very happy to report that after some new staff recruitment and a lot of planning, The Crusader is online again with a brand-new website at www.theholycrosscrusader.com. I actually happened to come across this forum while checking to see if the site showed up in a Google search, and I'm glad I did! Rest assured that we currently have a great group of students who are dedicated to improving the publication and restoring it to its former glory. As an aside, we'd be glad to hear from alumni on this topic or any other. Please feel free to contact us at crusader@g.holycross.edu with any questions or to submit an editorial. Best regards, MRI
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