News and Events

Go FAR (First Amendment Rights) Events

From March 23 to 27, the OWU Journalism Department Student Board sponsored a Go FAR (First Amendment Rights) series of events during the lunch hour of each week day. The series, which was designed to celebrate the freedoms assured by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, comprised five active learning modules. Students, faculty and members of the community were invited to participate. Go FAR was made possible by a Louis Ingelhart First Amendment Fund grant for $1,000. The fund is named for Louis E. Ingelhart, builder of the Ball State University’s journalism department, dedicated defender of the First Amendment and mentor to a multitude of college and high school media advisers. The fund was established by College Media Advisers, Inc., and donors and is administered through CMA.

Journalism Student Board Chairperson Drew Lenox delivered a speech on the final day of events that outlined what participants learned during the week and the message the board intended to emphasize regarding First Amendment fights.

Day 1: Clay Davis, a Media Law student, introduces the Rev. Charles Wilson, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church of Delaware and Lisa Ho, OWU assistant chaplain. The two led a group of 19 in a discussion about the history of the First Amendment’s freedom of religion and the sometimes tense relationship between religion and politics in communities across the nation. The event took place on Monday, March 23, in Peale Chapel.

 

Day 2: Paul Kostyu, adjunct professor of journalism, moderates a panel on freedom of speech which included (from left) Randy Ludlow, senior reporter from the Columbus Dispatch; Mike Esler, professor in the OWU Department of Politics and Government, specializing in the judicial process and policy making; and Joe Tomain, an attorney from Frost, Brown and Todd in Cincinnati who specializes in First Amendment law. The panel took place in one of the Benes rooms on Tuesday, March 24. Twenty-three people attended.

Day 3: On Wednesday, March 25, Shade Fakunle, journalism student board member, encouraged  students to exercise their right to petition by signing a banner voicing their concerns to WCSA and the OWU administration. The event took place in the atrium of Ham-Will.

Day 4: The U.S. Supreme Court, composed of 
journalism student board members (from right)
Kyle Sjarif, Will Yoder, Drew Lenox, Danny
Eldredge, Ryan Armstrong and Shade Fakunle,
relax with moderator Clay Davis prior to hearing the
libel case Chief Information Officer v. The Transcript. Plaintiff’s attorney Jim Underwood, who also serves as an adjunct with the department, and Defense attorney Frank Hinchey, retired Dispatch reporter and adjunct with the department, argued the case on Thursday afternoon, March 26. The event attracted a number of students from the department, and the event recognized freedom of the press.

Day 5: A peaceable assembly, a.k.a. luncheon rounded out the week’s events. During that event Student Journalism Board Chairperson Drew Lenox spoke to a crowd of 35 regarding the importance of recognizing, reiterating and remembering the rights of the First Amendment. *pdf of speech. In addition, senior journalism minor Catie Coleman received the Margaret Beltz memorial award recognizing Coleman’s work in scholarship and practice to promoting the First Amendment. She received a certificate and a $50 monetary award.

Student journalists attend NTY workshop

On March 20, 2009, several Transcript staffers attended the Council of Independent Colleges and the New York Times special full-day workshop titled “Inside the Times.” The annual Student News Editors Workshop organized by the Council of Independent Colleges allows student news editors to spend a day at the New York Times exploring the role of a newspaper in society, meeting with Times correspondents and editors, and developing their journalistic skills. Nearly 100 students from 50 institutions participated in the event, including Mike DiBiasio, editor-in-chief; Mark Dubovec, news editor; Megan Quinn, copy editor; and Sara Mays, photo editor. DiBiasio said the group gained valuable insight into the working of this national newspaper and how to best prepare for careers in today’s media. Their visit was made possible through funding by OWU’s Office of the Provost.

Journalism Student Board awarded $1,000 to fund educational program on First Amendment

The Journalism Student Board was recently awarded a Louis Ingelhart First Amendment Fund grant for $1,000 to educate the campus and community about the freedoms protected by the First Amendment. The fund is named for Louis E. Ingelhart, builder of the Ball State University's journalism department, dedicated defender of the First Amendment and mentor to a multitude of college and high school media advisers. The fund was established by College Media Advisers, Inc., and donors and is administered through CMA.

Awards are made annually and announced during the fall Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisers conference. This year, that conference was held in Kansas City from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2.

OWU's journalism student leadership submitted a proposal to present a "Go FAR" program. "Most people don't know what protections are offered in the First Amendment, but they do tend to understand the basic concepts.  We have planned a full day event promoting First Amendment rights.  We will call our event Go FAR, with the acronym standing for 'First Amendment Rights.'  During our Go FAR event, we want to be able to promote all the protections of the First Amendment and be able to inform students on what these protections mean," the proposal noted. The event will comprise five active learning modules in which all students, faculty and members of the community are invited to participate. Each module will represent a freedom protected by the First Amendment.

Members of the Journalism Student Board include: Drew Lenox '09, Ryan Armstrong '09, Willy Yoder '09, Greg Stull '09, Danny Eldredge '09, Shade Fakunle '10, Kimberly St. Louis '10 and Kyle Sjarif '11.

Rhodes provides leadership to CMA, presents at recent conference

Dr. Melinda Rhodes, assistant professor of journalism and adviser to The Transcript, was recently appointed Diversity Committee chairperson for the College Media Advisers, Inc., and serves on the CMA Board's Advisory Council. CMA has been working since 1954 to help student media professionals improve their media operations. Endorsed by state and regional professional and college media associations and schools and departments of mass communication, CMA communicates and works with professional media organizations and education associations on the local, state and national levels.

As diversity chair, Rhodes contributes articles to the CMA website and develops presentation sessions and panels for the organization's fall and spring conferences.

On Nov. 1, at CMA's fall conference in Kansas City, Rhodes presented a session titled "Do As I Say, Not As I Do: What the Pages of a Small Student Newspaper Really Say About Diversity." The session presented methods for small newspapers to conduct diversity audits and recommendations for increasing diversity in news content and newsroom composition.