Student Media - why we're leaders

When I meet prospective students and their families, I always emphasize the importance of our student media -- it's through ICTV, the Ithacan, magazines such as Buzzsaw, our radio stations, and other student clubs that our students put concepts into practice. It's where they show their initiative, their creativity -- and how they demonstrate how we stack up against the competition.

In just the last week, here are some wonderful examples:

The Ithacan has been named a Gold Medalist for both the Fall
2009 and Spring 2010 semesters in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s
annual college newspaper critique.

Each year the CSPA evaluates member papers on overall
content, news, depth reporting, features, opinion/editorial, sports,
arts/entertainment, editing/headline writing, and design/graphics based on more
than 150 specific criteria. This year the paper’s scores on the critique’s
1,000-point scale were 981 for fall and 985 for spring. The CSPA consistently
ranks the Ithacan as a Gold Medalist, it’s highest category.

Among the judge’s comments, “Everything about this paper is
well done. I can’t say enough about your strong ‘watchdog’ role, your
outstanding coverage and your excellent design.”

Another example: our students quickly responded to the Trevor Project and the
It Gets Better campaign aimed at LGBT youth -- and in particular the recent tragic
suicides of young people who were bullied because of their sexual preference. Our
students put together a compelling video featuring scores of students, faculty, staff,
and administrators at the college -- including President Rochon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dat9bEHqGos

Our students have the skills -- but more importantly, they have a conscience.

That's why we are nurturing the people who will lead the communications profession.