The opinions represented in this article do not necessarily represent those of the staff of CUIndependent.com nor any of its sponsors.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
And for the CU Independent, and the world of journalism, it was a time of evolution and change.
The fall 2010 semester will forever be etched in our memories and on our web pages as a time of adversity and prosperity.
While we were busy helping a new adviser get acclimated to the hurricane life at the CU Independent, breaking news hit, and it hit hard. Discontinuance. Fires. Resignations. We had our work cut out for us.
On the third day of school, our university leaders announced that the J-School would begin a process of discontinuance. The world of journalism feared for its life.
We watched as the Discontinuance Committee picked apart our journalism degrees and made recommendations about a program they knew nothing about.
We watched as Boulder went up in flames, multiple times. We watched as students lost their homes to the blazing fires. We listened to police scanners that talked about pets being trapped on the decks of people’s houses. We heard about incredible rescue missions.
We watched as our dean announced his resignation, and we were there first to get the exclusive.
We Tweeted, Facebooked and blogged about our news, spreading our knowledge to those who would benefit most.
We didn’t stop to lament about the difficulties of journalism, or how we feared for our futures in a world that told us our profession was dead. We knew we still had a job to do.
At the end of the day, that is the purpose of working journalists like those of us here at the CU Independent. While others discuss the structure and future of journalism, we are out there actually doing it, providing a model for the future. The academics will sit in their offices and talk about what journalism should be, but we are the ones actively molding it.
We don’t quit doing our jobs when the structure of our staff changes. We don’t quit doing our jobs when the university announces it wants to rethink our journalism education. We don’t quit doing our jobs when fires rage across the city of Boulder. We don’t quit doing our jobs when we’re sick, tired, have midterms, have homework, break up with our boyfriends and girlfriends, or just want a break.
We don’t quit.
If nothing else, that is what this semester has taught us all. It has taught us how to stand strong in the face of adversity, and how to keep fighting. News is what we do, and we will never quit. Neither will generations of journalists who come after us.
The CU Independent is the future of journalism education at CU. While the J-School may someday close its doors, we will continue to offer a place for students to apply their talents. We are a home for anyone who wants to tell a story, and that, at the end of the day, is the crux of journalism.
Contact Fall 2010 CU Independent Editor-in-chief Kate Spencer at Katherine.a.spencer@colorado.edu.
3 comments
Damn you guys are over dramatic. Your school isn’t dying, it’s being incorporated into the rest of A&S classes. Nobody says your quitting, you’re just being downsized. I feel like the staff of this paper has spent way too much energy this semester in their self righteous campaign to “save the J-school”. We get it, you’re pissed.
A message from the rest of CU: We get it, you’re pissed, we’re sorry, get over it.
The above post couldn’t have been better said.
And the funny thing is, they actually like the person who suggested discontinuance to the university.
Glad to see the CU Independent is sticking around. I’ll continue to look here for information about my alma mater.
Have to say though, the university has certainly made it so that no clearly thinking student looking to go into journalism would want to attend CU.