The Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) gives its full support to the staff of the Calumet, Muscatine (Iowa) Community College’s (MCC’s) student newspaper, and especially its adviser Jim Compton. ACP calls for the reinstatement of Compton, who was dismissed as adviser to the Calumet earlier this spring.
Compton’s removal comes after two years of administration pressure to change story topics and tone in the Calumet, stretching back to a Fall 2013 story exploring potential conflicts of interest, cronyism and nepotism in MCC’s student senate. Compton said he was warned that if the Calumet ran a particular story on a phone call the Student Senate adviser made to the paper that the Calumet would either be shut down or that he would be replaced by an adjunct instructor. A week later, he received an email confirmation that he was being dismissed and that an adjunct would be hired to adviser the paper.
“Our concern is that this is an attempt by administration to enact more editorial control,†said Laura Widmer, ACP associate director. “The basic tenet of journalism is that to provide effective service to a community, a publication must remain independent of those in power. We urge the administration to realize that a vibrant and vigilant Calumet is more beneficial to their campus health than one that merely reprints press releases.â€
In Compton’s time as adviser, enrollment in the class and advertising revenue have tripled, and the publication schedule has dramatically increased. The Calumet has been honored twice by ACP for excellence. Earlier this year at the Best of Midwest Convention in Minneapolis, the school took home third place for best news story. In 2013 at the same convention, the Calumet was awarded honorable mention for best two-year newspaper. This year’s award-winning piece was on the conflict of interest in MCC Student Senate awards.
For more information:
Laura Widmer, associate director
612-625-6519
laura@studentpress.org
‪About the Associated Collegiate Press
ACP, home of the Pacemaker award, is the world’s largest and oldest national membership organization for college student journalists. Founded in 1921, ACP is steadfast in its mission to serve student media and advisers, introduce new ideas and reinforce best practices, reward excellence, embrace diversity, and provide ample networking and partnership opportunities. ACP’s members are student-directed online/digital news organizations, newspapers, yearbooks, magazines and broadcast programs. ACP endorses and advocates free expression rights for student media. ACP is a division of the National Scholastic Press Association, a 501 c-3 non-profit journalism education association based in Minneapolis.