It is a shame that Grinnell College is considering slashing the print and radio budget next year, effectively terminating its print products.
In a time when newspapers across the country are still grappling with the digital era, small colleges like Grinnell appear to be one of the remaining havens where print news has thrived. I fondly remember lounging at the Spencer Grill on campus and picking up the paper as I waited for friends or before I cracked open my laptop to start my homework. In it, I learned about other students on campus doing fascinating things, policy changes the College was making and events going on around town, all of which gave me a deeper understanding of the community I’d chosen to dive into for four years.
The College prides itself on a self-governance motto that gives students a strong voice, and yet the student staff say this proposal to end their print publications came down with no student input. The Scarlet & Black’s work — from staff positions to weekly deadlines — revolves around the print edition. But as their academic year winds to an end with finals and graduation looming, the newspaper staff said should this proposal come to pass they would be expected to remake it with an entirely new operating model by the start of next year.
The potential cut to the print product has nothing to do with a lack of engagement — very few copies of The S&B are left over after their weekly distribution across campus, according to Eleanor Corbin, editor in chief of The S&B. And it also doesn’t have to do with quality — this year The S&B won Iowa college newspaper of the year.
It would be a different story if College officials were in conversation with The S&B to transition from print to a more robust online presence, with funding funneled toward expanding the paper’s digital footprint such as video explainers or emailed newsletters — mirroring some of the efforts of local and national newspapers today. But that is not the case here. Instead, the College has proposed to implement cost-cutting measures on a key element of student life and experience on campus, even as it puts the finishing touches on a towering multimillion dollar building downtown.
In a liberal arts school without career-track degrees — such as journalism — the extracurriculars that give students real-world experience are incredibly valuable. My work as a freelancer for The S&B and as a Grinnell Review editor helped me gain experience in the journalism and publishing industry that guided me to where I am today as a national investigative reporter at The Washington Post.
I stand in support of S&B staff and hope the college will not go forward with this proposed cut and maintain its commitment to a thriving newspaper at Grinnell College that delivers quality journalism for the college community and offers critical experience for its students.
Silvia Foster-Frau, Washington Post national investigative reporter
Former Grinnell Review editor and Scarlet and Black freelance reporter
