“The Outlook” has been a pivotal force of Monmouth University’s campus since the school’s inauguration in 1933. Since then, the paper has covered vital moments in both the country’s and the nation’s history, many events of which are reminisced upon throughout this issue. Nevertheless, with 90 years of “The Outlook,” our editors took a moment to reflect on the importance of student journalism on a college campus and what the future may possibly hold for the paper in the coming years.
All of our editors unanimously agreed that student journalism is crucial to providing students, as well as administration, unbiased and unfiltered opinions of life on campus; students are additionally able to have their voices heard when otherwise they may not. One editor said, “Students deserve to know what is truly going on where they are receiving their education, and in some cases, living.”
Another editor had a similar sentiment. “I would argue University changes and implementations affect students more than anyone else,” they said, “so students have the right to know the facts surrounding these changes and should have the opportunity to comment on them.”
Yet another editor agreed: “Student journalism is important because it’s coming from students who will tell the honest truths to students in their entirety instead of trying to frame things in a way that sound better. It’s providing students with information they need to hear and that specifically pertains to them.”
Furthermore, there was an overarching belief that student journalism should be supported and read by administration for the fact that they know first-hand what is working in the University and what is not.
“Administration should read student journalism to not only keep up with student happenings from a student’s perspective, but it helps to read if there are student concerns that have never been addressed,” explained one editor.
From a more experience-centered perspective, another editor explained that the student paper should be supported because of the opportunities it presents students with. They said, “[The paper] has the ability to draw in prospective students who are looking learn about journalism and hone their skills in the field of journalism if they have written for a newspaper already.”
Joining “The Outlook,” or any student paper, presents students with the ability to creatively express themselves if they have never had the chance to do so previously. One editor cited the paper as being their favorite part of the week due to the creative process they are able to work with. They said, “Writing for ‘The Outlook’ is such a good way to experience a form of creative expression. With classes, we’re writing the same kind of academic papers over and over again. The best part of my week is when I can actually write about and edit stories that I genuinely enjoy and get creative with.”
One editor put it more simply: “Students should feel inspired to write because it’s cool to have your name in the paper. I was inspired by our brilliant editors.”
Even still, another editor said, “Students should feel encouraged to write for the paper because of the pride and achievement one finds when an article they wrote can be published and read by others at an entire university. Being able to have a place to share my own opinion on topics I love is what drew me to ‘The Outlook.’ Being able to have a platform to speak your own opinion freely is so important, and I am honored to be part of such an amazing organization.”
For 90 years, “The Outlook” has been providing the Monmouth community with award-winning journalism, completely written and run by students. While it’s hard to sum up nine decades in such a small space, hopefully our editors’ words provide a succinct summarization of the importance of the past 90 years and the next 90 to come:
“The work we are doing is important, even if it doesn’t feel like it at times. We are continuing a legacy, something that connects us to the community’s past and its future.”
“Unlike popular beliefs, 90 years of ‘The Outlook’ proves journalism is not dead!”
“We’re not going anywhere, we matter!”
