Adviser isn't spelled e-d-i-t-o-r
By Dave Waddell
Forgive college newspaper advisers if they often feel misunderstood. Ruthe Thompson certainly felt that way when she was recently accosted at a campus luncheon by an administrator at Chicago’s Roosevelt University, where Thompson is an assistant professor of journalism and the new adviser to the student newspaper, the Torch. What caused the administrator to vent was the Torch’s Sept. 13 edition, which included coverage of the terrorist attacks. The administrator complained about "proofing errors, sketchy writing standards and unprofessional gaffes" and pointedly asked Thompson, "Don’t you edit the paper?"
Well, no.
"I thanked her for her critique," Thompson said, "then gently explained that the adviser is actually in the role of teacher and guide, training and coaching students but not actually doing the work for them."
By the time their conversation had ended, Thompson felt the administrator had a better understanding of the adviser’s role. The job of educating administrators, other faculty and even students about what advisers should do—and not do—is seen by many advisers as crucial to their effectiveness.
Jim Killam, adviser to the Northern Star at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, says the process of enlightening the campus community "about who really runs the student newspaper" is necessarily perpetual. In fact, Killam, this past fall, felt moved to write a rare commentary in which he attempted to explain how he and the newspaper operate. "There’s a reason you see my byline in the Northern Star about as often as the Cubs finish in first place," Killam began his piece. "Look under that disturbing mug shot and you’ll see he title, ‘adviser.’
"Not publisher. Not editor. Not general manager. Adviser.
"College media advisers are, primarily, teachers. We try to be the answer people for our students on questions ranging from libel law to how to motivate a staff. We train, formally and informally, every day. Many days, we are amateur therapists. And, we promote and defend our students’ rights to do what they do, while also teaching and modeling ethics—what journalists should and shouldn’t do.
"This column was submitted with the understanding that editors were absolutely entitled to use it only to wipe pizza stains off the break room floor. They make all content decisions. But, with their permission, I’ll step from behind the curtain today and try to answer common questions about how and why the student press operates the way it does."
The column was Killam’s second in his seven years at Northern Illinois—the first was a tribute to a former sports editor who had died of cancer—and he doesn’t plan to write another anytime soon.
"Too much of me in the paper, even arguing for students’ rights, might create exactly the impression that I don’t want—that I’m somehow in charge here," said Killam, president of the Illinois College Press Association. "I believe students learn the most and a college newspaper has the best atmosphere when advisers stay very much behind the scenes and out of the spotlight."
Jenny Tenpenny Crouch of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro said there can be a fine line between helping students make good journalistic decisions and actually running the newspaper. She said too many administrators view advisers as editors who can strong-arm students into publishing the type of paper that the college administration is comfortable with.
"I don’t think they understand the value of allowing students to learn by making mistakes and being chewed out by the public they serve," said Crouch, president of College Media Advisers Inc. "Students need to have this experience rather than be shielded from it, but administrators would rather that we ‘fix’ everything. As we all know, that would be an impossible task and the publications would never make it to the press."