The journalism faculty of the School of Communication strongly support The Eagle’s lively, independent student voice on campus.
The Eagle has been central to AU tradition since the 1920s, longer than the majority of teaching units and many other institutions on our campus. The Eagle has again and again proved essential to campus learning and teaching of issues central to national debate such as war, peace and social equity.
The Eagle has also produced the most comprehensive and consistent campus coverage of AU sports, student life, the arts and student government. It should remain a source of objective, balanced news about events at AU. A college news organization prepares students for the wider world of journalism, and this is clearly shown by the many successful Eagle alumni.
The Eagle is today suffering the same type of economic stress and steep declines in advertising revenue that are faced by the most powerful media organizations in the country. As experienced scholars, professors and teachers with long experience in journalism, we support The Eagle’s step-by-step efforts to preserve the best parts of its heritage as a newspaper and to expand its audience in digital media. This is a very challenging transition.
To succeed in it, we urge the entire AU community to support The Eagle and its staff, protect its independent student voice from outside interference and to recognize the key contribution The Eagle continues to make to building AU’s heritage.
Sincerely,
Jill Olmsted, Journalism
Division Director
School of Communication Journalism Faculty: Carolyn Brown, Angie Chuang, John Doolittle, Amy Eisman, Declan Fahy, Jane Hall, Chris Lawrence, Chuck Lewis, Lynne Perri, Rick Rockwell, Chris Simpson, Rodger Streitmatter, John Watson
edpage@theeagleonline.com
