As a student-controlled newspaper, The Northerner has always been carefully critiqued and even sometimes ridiculed. But we’re not the only ones. Public universities nationwide face the same problems.

It’s important to remember that we are a student-controlled publication, which means that the administration, including faculty and staff, have no say in content and design. It is hard for our higher-ups to understand that, we know, but it’s the truth.

In the past, many professors did not show support for The Northerner or offer advice on how to improve our content, design or readership. It was, and always will be, a struggle to please the entire university community, but we always strive for the most balanced and visually appealing publication.
Fortunately, Northern Kentucky University’s Department of Communication is making strides in improving that understanding, most notably by reinstating the Student Media Board this year.

We hope the Student Media Board will act as a buffer between student media and the administration, as well as provide us with advice, but not control. It should be a place to discuss and resolve problems and answer questions with the students responsible for the publications themselves.
The committee working to reactivate the board is considering a makeup of 11 members, six of which are required to be students. After being inactive for over 10 years, the board is still in the process of making changes and updates to fit NKU’s current student media, but it is imperative that students make up a large portion of the group mainly because we are the ones making final decisions.

The Northerner is pleased and anticipating the Student Media Board’s return. It will help keep us, as student learners and producers of the newspaper, in line with ethics and media law, as well as provide feedback on how we are doing.

After our Aug. 23 issue, many of The Northerner’s editors and writers received encouraging feedback and congratulations from NKU faculty. Many of the same staff members have never had something like this happen in our time working for The Northerner. It was a great feeling and encouraged us to produce another content-filled and stylish issue this week.