The Collegian turns 75

By Benjamin Circelli
Senior Staff Writer
March 1, 2006

This month marks the 75th year of the Collegian, La Salle’s student-run newspaper. The weekly periodical will make its second debut into cyberspace with the anniversary issue. The Collegian staff has worked with Dean of Students Dr. Joseph Cicala and University Communications Assistant Vice President for Marketing Joseph Donovan to get the paper online after a two-and-a-half year hiatus. All issues published from March 1 on will be accessible online.

Editors Amanda Koehler, Drew Lazor and Nicole Woods discuss
the 75th anniversary issue -Lou Perseghin

As editor in chief, one of Nicole Woods’ primary goals for her tenure was to get the newspaper back online. Woods proposed the idea to Cicala at the end of spring semester last year.

“It took a long time and lots of hard work, but like anything else you commit yourself to, it all paid off in the end,” Woods said. “I couldn’t have done it alone.”

Initially, Woods and managing editor, Amanda Koehler, did a lot of background research. They wanted to address all possible difficulties that could arise as a result of being online in order to gain full cooperation among the parties involved.

One roadblock they hoped to avoid was facing possible legal ramifications that could ensue if the website was handled unprofessionally. As a print publication, the Collegian has a circulation of about 2,000 copies distributed among students, administration and faculty and staff. However, once online, members outside of the La Salle community will be able to access each issue and interpret them from many different perspectives. If a legal issue were to arise as a result of information published on the Web, the University would have to take full responsibility as the Collegian’s publisher.

Koehler researched the procedures that other Catholic Universities follow when publishing their newspapers online. After several meetings with Cicala, Woods, Koehler and faculty advisor Robert O’Brien agreed to work together each week to decide which articles would appear online and which would remain exclusively in the print edition. Cake and Kicks are the only two sections that won’t appear online and remain solely in the print edition each week.

Collegian’s graphics editor sophomore DArt major Lucian Tucker created a prototype of the prospective Collegian website, which the group presented to Cicala. Tucker began creating the basics for the website once discussions had advanced to that point. He has been working on the site since the start of Winter Break. Using his creativity and the knowledge amassed in his DArt classes, Tucker developed the website without too much difficulty.

“I researched other University newspapers and looked at what I thought they did right and what I thought they did wrong,” Tucker said. “From there, I decided to keep the layout simple, yet colorful and creative.”

Tucker made it easy for readers to navigate between articles. In addition, he developed a way to link writers to all of the stories they have written for the Collegian. Each editor will have a small picture and biography attached to his or her name.

When compared to other college and university newspapers, the Collegian’s time to shine online was well overdue. Most of the area’s major schools already had online publications, for the major benefits it creates for a university and its students.

The Collegian expects that its online edition will improve readership and keep students better informed about the campus. It will also provide the writers with exposure for family, friends and future employers.

By going online, the paper can also help recruit prospective students interested in La Salle because they will be able to get a feel for the campus, view campus events and see the quality of the paper itself.

“It feels great to finally get this website up and running again,” Woods said. “I am really excited for its debut and am looking forward to responses it will generate from our readers.”

A link to the Collegian website will be located on La Salle’s main page. You can also access it directly at www.lasalle.edu/collegian.

circellib1@lasalle.edu