The Role of Student Journalism in Student Movements

An analysis of how student journalism at Trinity portrays struggles of power on campus.

This project compares how student publications portray power struggles on campus, and how that portrayal aligns (or doesn't) with student journalism's role in university life, specifically regarding student movements. Using two examples of student movements at Trinity, one in 1968 and one in 2011, I analyze how the main student publication at Trinity portrays these struggles in comparison to other student perspectives that could be deemed more radical.

With this comparison, I have constructed two arguments: one, students' awareness of global issues as a backdrop to their own struggles has decreased over time, which affects contemporary student movements; two, this lack of awareness has always been consistent in the main student publication on campus, which suggests that there used to be more of a disconnect between the publication and the study body — but now they echo similar perspectives.

I start with two stories of student movements, then provide some backdrop to my motives for this project, present the comparative data, and finally provide some solutions.


The 1968 sit-in

Students walking into Downes Memorial in 1968

On April 22, 1968, around 160 Trinity students entered the Downes and Williams Memorial buildings and didn't leave for 32 hours.

The Board of Trustees, along with President Jacobs, were also in those buildings conducting a meeting that included discussion of a Black student scholarship fund. This administrative group was blocked from leaving by the students for 4 hours.

These students had a list of demands that, in their eyes, administration was acting too slow to discuss and enact. These demands included the scholarship fund for Black students, inclusion of Black studies courses, and more Black faculty.

These demands, and the following sit-in, came after numerous other students on other campuses across the globe were demanding similar actions from their universities (most notably, Columbia University).

The student movements were not in a void; they are in front of a backdrop of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Vietnam War, Nixon's regime of Law and Order, and the tumultuous presidential elections of '68 — just to name a few. Students all across the U.S., and even globally, recognized their role in the state of the world.

The ivory tower came crashing down on every campus, and was replaced by a microcosm of national and global struggle.


The 2011 protest

Students protesting outside of Mather in 2011

On another April 22, forty three years later, Trinity was met with an "incident" that would prompt student action on campus yet again. A white male was reported having thrown a cup of beer at a car belonging to a student of color, and "yelled racially charged statements to that same person." The student of color was in his car, reportedly called the N-word, and told to "get off the campus."

This wasn't the only "racially charged" incident that year, as Dean Alford put it. Rather, it was the last straw for students, who decided to organize against this act of racism. The students demanded the implementation of a "Zero Tolerance Policy" in the handbook, which would mandate certain punishments to racist acts such as this one (rather than administration using their own discretion).

Students organized outside of Mather Dining Hall, and ended up initiating a sit-in inside the Dean of Students' office. These students' demands were reached, too — the Council on Campus Climate drafted and passed a "clear and explicit policy regarding bias related harrassment." To be clear, the words "zero tolerance" were not used.

While the work of these students and their organizing is important for underserved communities on campus to be heard, this student movement was not spurred by a wider national knowledge and urgency. This was a reaction, and another piece of a conversation turned inwards towards Trinity. How many bigots were on Trinity campus? How can students (and administration) tell these bigots that they "don't belong" at Trinity? Can Trinity be saved from this "resurgence" of racism? These were the questions the community was asking, without turning to look beyond the iron gates.


Process

As a current editor on The Trinity Tripod and a student working to be "in but not of" the university, as Harney and Moten put it, I felt it was important to briefly discuss how I reached this topic, and why I made some of the choices I did. In many ways, my position as a student journalist has informed my findings, and my perspective on the role of student journalism has been greatly altered by those findings.

I have been a student journalist for almost five years now, and I always believed that journalism was the answer to many problems in this world: we checked power, whether that was in government or on campus (or somewhere in between), we were the voice of the communities who didn't have a platform, and we challenged authority by holding them accountable for their actions.

So, of course I was drawn to this topic as a project. It took a while to reach what you see in this story map. I was originally going to compare administrative publications and student publications to analyze power relations between administration and students, but after I dug into my research, that seemed like an obvious issue that is discussed fairly frequently. There's no argument about the divide between administration and the students. I wanted to dig deeper than that, and when I began seeing a pattern — a real disconnect — between The Trinity Tripod and other platforms of student voices surrounding these student movements, I discovered a more hidden issue, which is students' own complicity.

Many of the conclusions I found in this research, and that you will see as you scroll down, broke my initial perception of student journalism. We were not the answer to the problems in these cases. In fact, we aided that problem. In this dark realization, I want to change that. I hope the student journalists reading this feel the same once they reach the end of this project.

This is a story about student journalism, by a student journalist.


The characters

Students at the 1968 sit-in

From 1968, I look at the publication called "Strike News," which was created and distributed by organized Trinity students. Strike News is easily identified as a radical publication. I will compare Strike News to editorials from The Trinity Tripod that were published at the same time. These editorials are the opinion of the Executive Board at The Tripod consisting of the Managing Editor(s) and Editor In Chief.

Students at the 2011 protest

From 2011, I look at the emails from students who organized the protests on campus, which can almost be seen as a parallel to Strike News due to its (slightly) more radical nature than other publications, and the goal of the students. I will compare these emails to editorials from The Trinity Tripod that were published at the same time, again representing the opinion of the Executive Board.

I decided to use Tripod editorials, instead of pieces submitted by students or staff writers, since a newspaper's editorial is meant to represent the organization's views. Since The Tripod is a by-the-students, for-the-students publication, it felt most appropriate to use editorials.


1968 data

This map shows the places of power for sit-in participants (yellow) and non-participants (blue). According to a statistical analysis done by a participant of the sit-in, participants and non-participants each share common places around campus, exhibiting characteristics and values of radical and non-radical students.

Key

Below are excerpts from multiple publications of Strike News, which peaked during the spring semester in 1968. Strike News editions listed event announcements, op-eds, national and global updates, artwork, and more.

Strike News, April - May

A typical Strike News cover.

Many Strike News editions in The Watkinson Library have handwritten notes, either from the creators or the owner of the copy.

Below are excerpts from The Trinity Tripod editorials from the same time.

The Trinity Tripod editorials, April 23 - May 7

A new column in a Tripod issue after the sit-in

This is a new column in 1968 from a T.A.N. meeting, which reflects possibly a more progressive rhetoric for the publication.


2011 data

While the work of these student organizers was vital, their language did not echo the stark messages in Strike News. This rhetoric does not situate the bigotry in a wider global context, which could have brought more radical forms of protest and change.

Below are excerpts from emails sent across campus to organize students after the racist incident.

Emails from Candace Simpson '12 and Brandon Lewis '13 on organizing a rally, April 2011

Below are excerpts from The Trinity Tripod editorials from the same time on the issue of the incident.

The Trinity Tripod (editorials and statement), April - May

A statement to the community from The Tripod staff; a statement from the Student Government Association (SGA) published in The Tripod

It was common to see statements like this supporting both administration and students from the Tripod.


Conclusions

What does this data tell us about student publications at Trinity?

The Tripod is passive, and chooses complicity over radical ideas in writing

Student organizers today have less awareness of how their own struggles relate to the world around them, such as comparing 2011 and 1968

Student organizing is a product of reaction (2011) rather than action (1968), which prompts circular conversations rather than new progression

Apathy is overriding passion, where only students who have an identity-based "stake in the game" spark and participate in radical writing and organizing

What else do you see from this data?


Solutions

Internal to the Tripod:

Internal audit

The Williams Record's three RPI editors

  • A committee (see right) focused solely on fair reporting that edits every story, holds office hours, trains new staffers, and focuses on coverage regarding events such as student movements, inspired by other student publications in the NESCAC
  • An annual diversity report that tracks demographics of staff and surveys staff asking when and how they have felt included
  • An institutional memory log that tracks/monitors relationships with students, administrators, and staff on campus to ensure fair coverage in ideas and demographics
  • A community feedback form so that community members can directly respond to and critique coverage
  • Editorial meetings around certain topics to analyze the publication, such as staff retention, diversity, and campus relations
  • Develop and encourage their “letter to the editor” section, where community members (both inside and outside Hartford) can voice their opinions on previous coverage

The Tripod's current lackluster letter to the editor information

External to the Tripod:

  • Strike News resurgence, or another form of radical publication on campus
  • Alignment and support of Umoja Coalition and their demands

Further questions to ask:

What does this issue (lack of global awareness) look like after Covid? Has it changed?

How does administrative power fit into this narrative?

Is this the same for other student publications across the country?

Credits

For any questions or clarifications regarding the sources used in this project, please contact Olivia Silvey at olivia.silvey@trincoll.edu. Thank you.

Strike News

The Watkinson Library, Trinity College

The Trinity Tripod

Trinity College Digital Repository

Student organizing emails

Trinity College Digital Repository

2011 photos

Kerri Provost, Real Hartford

1968 photos

The Watkinson Library, Trinity College

Data Map

Statistical Analysis of 1968 sit-in, The Watkinson Library

Tripod Letter to the Editor policy

The Trinity Tripod website

RPI editors information

The Williams Record website

Students walking into Downes Memorial in 1968

Students protesting outside of Mather in 2011

Students at the 1968 sit-in

Students at the 2011 protest

A new column in a Tripod issue after the sit-in

The Williams Record's three RPI editors

The Tripod's current lackluster letter to the editor information

Key