Pick This Up And Read it!
Editorial Board | Sep 18, 2012 | Comments 0
As UCI enters into its 47th year of classes, we editors at the New University seek to reaffirm our publication’s purpose and role on campus, in addition to our relationship with the various university departments and you, our reader.
Originally named the Spectrum (and later renamed several times as the Spectre, the Tongue, and the Anthill), the New University was first released on Sept. 23, 1968 and has been printing ever since. Though the Associated Students of UCI (ASUCI) originally published the New University, the publication eventually broke away from ASUCI and became self-sustaining. Since then, the New University has covered campus activities, student government and administrative issues in a more traditional journalistic style.
The Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editor of the New University are the ones who direct the staff of editors, writers, photographers and artists. Generally, any member of the UCI community – including both undergraduate and graduate students – can contribute to the New University’s editorial content.
Presently, the New University is the only weekly newspaper here at UCI. It is distributed across campus and in the immediate surrounding community every Tuesday during the academic year, excluding holidays, and normally runs 8,000 copies of each issue.
Contrary to some belief, the New University is completely independent from university administration and student government. Though it used to be published by ASUCI and was advised by the Office of the Vice Chancellor Student Affairs until the 2010-2011 academic year, the publication receives no funding of any kind from the university. We 100 percent solely support ourselves entirely from our advertising revenue generated by student advertising representatives.
When we say that the New University is an independent entity apart from the rest of the campus, we mean that it is student-run and that only the editors – all of whom are undergraduate students – control its editorial content, which includes, but is not limited to, articles, photographs, cartoons, graphics and layout. The university has no right to dictate our editorial content, nor does it have the ability to interfere with our editorial and production process.
With this academic year, the New University will become a brand under the Student Media distinction of Student Government & Student Media. Under this department, there are five student governments and three student medias. The three brands under Student Media comprise of the New University, KUCI and Alternative Media.
However, we assert that in no way does this operational relocation have any effect on the way the New University is run. We are still independent, student-run and funded only by our advertising revenue. Furthermore, our publication has an identity of its own and is not associated with KUCI or Alternative Media.
The role of the New University on the UCI campus is to act as its watchdog. With that being said, our chief goal is to report on various aspects of campus life that require the community’s attention. We take pride in the fact that the New University is an independent publication, uninfluenced by the university’s administration or student government.
In any society, the purpose of the media is to inform a general population, especially when it comes to matters of state affairs. In a democracy, it is the people who elect their leaders, and because of that, the leaders are obligated to carry out their jobs, with the eyes of the people upon them. The media are like the people’s glasses – they help the people to see and understand what is going on around them, particularly reporting whether the elected leaders are appropriately fulfilling their duties, in an unbiased manner.
The same case can arguably be said for UCI as well. As students, you are paying precious money to attend a prestigious university, and you have the right to know whether you are getting what you are paying for.
You deserve to know where your money is going into, whether a high-quality education and a fair environment is being provided for you, whether campus officials are performing their jobs in an appropriate conduct, and so forth. It is the New University’s duty to report to you on what is happening here at UCI, both positive and negative news. In a sense, we play a role in a campus-wide checks and balances system.
The New University is a publication for the students run by the students, and we seek to bring you the truth. The fact that we are an independent publication that, once again, receives no funding from the university in any shape or form at all, means that we can expose the truth to you without any university interference. Our purpose is to simply inform.
Chances are, what we publish may not always please everyone. In fact, our content may even upset certain officials or even groups on campus, including administration and student government. However, as it is not the media’s duty to please everyone, so it is with the New University. We are here to report to you, regardless of whether the news is good or bad in your eyes, because you matter. As students of UCI, you deserve at least that.
Please send any comments to opinion@newuniversity.org. Include your name, year, and major.
Filed Under: Opinion
