Administrators at the Louisiana public university directed editors of the weekly student newspaper, the Gramblinite, to suspend publication this month, citing a range of reasons. Grambling officials said that the newspaper was rife with errors and misspellings and that advertisers and local groups had complained about its lack of professionalism, and they cited a sports article that was plagiarized in large part from a local newspaper.
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But late Thursday, administrators reportedly lifted their suspension of the publication, after reaching an agreement with the students that will require the newspaper’s adviser to edit each article for grammar and style before it appears. —Scrutiny for the Student Press? (Inside Higher Ed)
It’s stories like this that make me really, really, really appreciate the students who run — and edit! — our paper (for which I am the adviser).
That comment was me.
Um… if ever I fear single-handedly destroying the Setonian in one semester (and I have), I will look to this article and be consoled.
Whenever a faculty member or administrator compliments me on the latest issue of the paper, I tell them that it’s not false modesty when I say “The students did all the work, they deserve the credit,” but usually the other person will say something like “You’ve taught them well enough that they can work on their own,” and I’m perfectly happy to accept *that* compliment.
Oh, man! That’s terrible. Not the fact that the students were bad journalists, but the fact that they have to be -supervised-! How can anyone learn a practical field (especially journalism) without doing it? That would be as horrible as having my social psychology professor collecting my data for me!
Most of the people in the Setonian are extremely organized and motivated… and very, very perfectionistic. The general consensus has always been that the lack of adviser involvement is a good thing.
Whenever an adviser does “clockmaker advising,” (s)he allows students the chance to develop something that they can be proud of. But, the tradeoff is that that adviser can take absolutely no credit for any accomplishments that the students make. When the advisor does “divine providence advising,” (s)he can take credit for every accomplishment, but the students get nothing.
So long as the ethical contract of each pole is not breeched, there can be harmony with students. But, when an adviser gives students credit to work that was not theirs, there is a bit of a problem. And there is even more of a problem if the professor takes claim to work that was clearly student work. Both are forms of plaigerism, but when a professor plaigerizes, it should be a more serious issue than when a student plaigerizes.
Thank you for being careful not to plaigerize our work :)
It is the most noble and unselfish pursuit to give the authority of the paper to us (the students) and act as a reliable support system.
Here’s to another good year at the Setonian…