If you would like to read the transcript of this interview, you can find it below:

Adam Jasie: Hi everyone and welcome to “Campus Copy”, thanks for joining us, I’m your host, Adam Jasie.  With us today is the WQAQ Sports Director, Mike Silverman.  Mike thanks for being here.

Mike Silverman: Glad to help out.

AJ: All right, we’re going to ask Mike a few questions, all of these are asked by members of the WQAQ Sports Department and are about Mike and his job and we’re going to see if he can give us some answers.  So lets take the first question now.

Sean Lawlor: What’s your favorite part about being WQAQ Sports Director?

MS: All right, my favorite part of being WQAQ Sports Director is that I get to watch sports all the time.  I’m always involved with the teams, I get to meet all the players, the athletic directors, the sports information directors, it’s fun to be involved, I wasn’t gifted naturally enough to play division I college athletics so I’m glad I can partake in it in another way and I get to literally be at every single home game throughout the year.

AJ: All right, thanks and let’s go to question number two.

Christopher Murray: What’s the hardest part about being a WQAQ Sports Director?

MS: You know the hardest part of being a sports director is trying to please everyone in your department.  Thankfully we have about 40 to 50 people in our department, but when you only have five games a week you can’t give everyone a game, so you want to make everyone happy and stay involved, but you also have to make sure you put a good team on each game, but while pleasing everyone at the same time, so I’d say that’s the hardest part.

AJ: Yeah can you talk about also juggling it with your schedule; I know you have a lot going on.

MS: Yeah that too, you have school still and I’d say I probably spend 25 to 30 hours a week doing sports department stuff along with hosting a television show for Q30, so I really have no free time, plus a radio show every week.  SO I have no free time and that makes it tough to balance school because the main reason I’m here still is to be a student, but I also want to make sure I live up to my duties and responsibilities as the sports director.

AJ: Okay, let’s go to question number three.

Andrew Gabel: How did you get involved in WQAQ?

MS: Well I transferred here from the University of Illinois after my sophomore year and I said if I’m going to make this move out East I want to make sure I make it worth it, so the day I got to Quinnipiac I was a junior already so I immediately went upstairs to the radio station and was like, ‘I want to start now, I want to get involved, how do I jump right in?’ and from day one they knew that I wanted to be there as much as I could and since then I just jumped into the station and have taken off from there now that the two seniors that graduated last year that were the current sports directors last year, they knew that I could jump right in and fill the spot, so that’s how I got started.

AJ: All right, and thanks a lot Mike, and let’s take question number four.

Justin Cohen: Mike, why did you want to become the WQAQ Sports Director?

MS: I think I wanted to be the sports director, one: because it obviously is a huge thing for the résumé and in this business it’s all about your résumé and your tape, unfortunately, and not grades, which is the harsh truth, but that’s the reality, so I needed more for my résumé and I wanted to take that next step, I felt like I could help, I mean, let’s be honest, the whole reason we’re here is for everyone to learn and improve and I felt like I could maybe help younger kids, freshmen and sophomores on that process of learning and improving to become better broadcasters because I’d experienced it for three years now.  So I wanted to take that next step and take a leadership role and just try and help out as many people as I could.

AJ: Let’s take the next question.

Katie Meline: What is the most surprising or unexpected part of your job?

MS: The most surprising part of this job is the time commitment; I can honestly say I did not realize it would be this much of a time commitment and I found myself struggling with fulfilling my other activities throughout the year but I mean, it’s really about, if you think about it, about 30 hours a week.  If you have five games in a week, you’re spending about four hours at each of those games; you have to be there an hour and a half early to two hours early, you have to be there probably an hour after the game, making sure everything is set to go, so I’d say that’s the most surprising part, I mean it’s like almost a full time job.

AJ: All right, let’s take the next question.

Melissa Hebert: What advice would you give anyone who wants to become the WQAQ Sports Director?

MS: The advice I would give to the future sports directors here at WQAQ is that you’ve better be committed and if you have an ounce of thinking that you’re not going to be committed, it’s not for you.  It’s so much fun and it’s great to help people out, it’s great to have a leadership role, but if you’re not fully there you will struggle, people will notice you’re struggling, you won’t create those great strong bonds with the athletic directors and the sports information people and the teams and players like to see your face at most every game and they like to know you’re committed, so if you’re going to run for this position, which is a great position, I think one of the best at WQAQ, just be excited and committed about every little thing you do.

AJ: Okay, let’s take the last question.

Jeremy Schilling: So what are your career goals?

MS: I’d say my career goals are to either be a professional sports broadcaster or a large market sports anchor, unfortunately I don’t have much control, it’s whether or not people like me, so I’ll go on either the path of where ever I get a job first.  If I get a job doing play-by-play first, I’ll start heading down that path, if I get a better job doing sports anchoring I’ll head down that path, but in my mind and what I’d like to thrive on is I don’t want to settle unless I’m at the top level, so my dream job, I guess, would be play-by-play for the Cubs or the lead anchor on Sports Center, so there’s a long way to go, it’s a long journey, but I’d say those are my career goals.

AJ: All right, well we want to thank all of the members of the WQAQ Sports Department for sending in their questions, I do have a couple of questions for Mike so we’ll ask those now.  Mike, you talked about the time commitment, how, and Mike Radomski is your co-sports director, how important is it to have that co-director to bounce ideas off of and help you with the time commitment.

MS: This would not be possible without two people, you could probably do it with three people to be honest, there’s, Mike and I like to try and show up to every game together because, like I said, you like to show your face at all of these games so they recognize you and feel more comfortable, but he’s crucial because we talk probably four to five times a day, just bouncing back ideas on one another because there are so many people that we’re technically leading and trying to help improve, so we need to make sure our ideas are correct so it’s huge, he’s become my like, almost like I’m dating him it seems like because I talk to him so much but he’s awesome and he’s a great friend and I would not be able to do this without him.

AJ: Okay, great Mike, well thanks again for being here and thanks to all of you out there watching this. One last time, for “Campus Copy”, I’m Adam Jasie.  Thanks again to Mike Silverman.

 

 

The issues and controversies surrounding the Quinnipiac Administration and its student-run newspapers are well documented and have certainly come to the attention of many members of the professional media, both local and on a national level.

It appears that Quinnipiac is not the only newspaper having problems with these types of issues, “The Advocate”, a paper at Mt. Hood Community College in Oregon is also having problems with who and how they are allowed to interview on campus: The Advocate

For over a year now I have been involved with the Quinnipiac student-based radio station, WQAQ, and must say it is one of the best and most well managed organizations on campus.  The station recently kicked off a new year of original shows and broadcasting as they also present all of the Quinnipiac sporting events live as well as archived on their websites.  Doing these games not only keeps the public informed and entertained but also helps the students prepare for their chosen profession, which awaits them after school.

The station has everything from rock, alternative, and dance music to sports and political shows including a show I do with two of my friends, “Sports Attack” (I know, we’re working on the name) Wednesday nights from 8-9 PM.  Many of the shows are hosted by members of the managing department and there is something for everyone.  If you’re on campus, you can listen to all the shows on your radio at 98.1 FM and you can always listen on the Internet at wqaq.com, no matter whare your are… So check it out!

Complete Show Schedule

QUAD NEWS Article on WQAQ

While not specifically a story dealing with campus media, the announcement last week that Quinnipiac Administration, along with support from the Student Government Association, had banned the site “Juicy Campus” from its servers is an interesting topic for discussion.  

“Juicy Campus” is a site, which offers users complete anonymity and freedom to post anything and everything about their (or other’s) college.  Since there is no accountability, people can post anything they want; ranging from “best bang” to “whose pregnant on the girl’s soccer team”.  These stories may or may not be true, but, for many, that is beyond the point.  The site offers no real value beyond spreading rumors, many of them of a vicious, hateful, or vindictive tone that only harms the reputations of fellow students.

Of course, there is an argument to be made against banning such sites, for one it only encourages more people to want to visit and view the site (even if they have to wait until they’re home) only worsening the problem the school is trying to stop.  Also, it sets a precedent that could lead down a slippery slope (especially with the recent attacks Quinnipiac has faced based on allegations of “censorship”) that Quinnipiac and the student-body as whole may later regret.

This issue is not an easy one, but when discussing student media it is always important to keep the First Amendment present in your mind and this is a prefect example of an issue that has many people arguing whether the school made the right call and whether the school made the right decision.

For one student’s opinion, click HERE.

On September 29, 2008, California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed into a law a bill, which protects teachers from unfair discipline when teachers stand up for the First Amendment rights of their students.  While teachers are those mainly affected, the bill also helps student in California who no longer must fear the retribution if they report truthfully on the goings-on around the school.

The bill protects all public school high school teachers and state university professors and states that: “no public school or college employee may be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against solely for acting to protect a student who is engaged in legally protected conduct. This includes the publication of speech that is not obscene, libelous, slanderous or substantially disruptive to the safe operations of the school.”

The full article can be found HERE.

The following is a letter published for students only on the Quinnipiac home-page, MyQ section, by Kathleen McCourt, senior vice president for academic and student affairs dealing with the allegations leveled against the school in recent week dealing with accusations that the school is suppressing the First Amendment rights of its students: 

A memo from Kathleen McCourt, senior vice president for academic and student affairs

In recent weeks, the University has been accused by some of impinging on the free speech rights of its students, not respecting the First Amendment rights of the student newspaper, and in general treating student journalists in ways different from external media. Although reasonable people may have different opinions and reach differing conclusions on the chain of events, I would like to try to frame the matter in its larger context.

The student newspaper, The Chronicle, is a student club and is fully-funded by the university. The paper has a faculty advisor from the School of Communications who advises but has no official authority over this student organization. The student editor is paid a stipend as are leaders of several of our larger student organizations. The university has clearly established policies that guide student media. Some have suggested that the University’s intent in enforcing its policies is to protect the University from “bad press.” To my knowledge, the University has never suppressed stories or prevented the paper from publishing any story.

The fundamental problem may be summed up in three words: accountability and liability/responsibility. Under its current structure, the newspaper has no accountability to any office or individual on campus; at the same time, the University bears all the responsibility and liability for its actions. The difficulty of maintaining a balance is exacerbated by the University’s obligation to protect the privacy rights of all its students. Many campus matters, particularly those relating to student judicial and disciplinary actions, may not be publicly discussed by university administrators. If the student newspaper were to write a story on such a matter, the fact that the University could not provide more than a cursory comment might in itself have the effect that one-sided and potentially libelous stories find their way into print.

For just this reason, most major universities with large journalism programs – Syracuse, Missouri, Columbia, BU, to name a few – have student newspapers that are entirely independent of the university. Those independent newspapers are funded by external sources – advertising – and are not directly affiliated with their universities in any way. Other smaller colleges, generally those that do not have large journalism programs – for example, Providence, Villanova, Wake Forest – have papers funded by the college but also have controls in place to ensure accountability. At Providence, for example, the vice president for student affairs serves as publisher.

Mixed in with this larger structural problem is the university’s practice of treating student journalists in the same way that reporters for the external media are treated. In the “real world,” businesses, including universities, have administrative structures in place to coordinate responses to any number of media queries. At Quinnipiac, the public affairs office has always had the role of coordinating responses for external media, so it does not seem a large leap to expect them to coordinate internal media requests as well. This system, until very recently, has worked extraordinarily smoothly for all of us.

What has recently led to difficulties are student class assignments that may blur the line between journalism and homework. If such an assignment is journalism, then administrative responses should be coordinated through public affairs. If it is homework, then the responses need not be coordinated through that office, but the expectation should also be that the homework is not going to be published.

Both First Amendment rights and privacy rights are extraordinarily important to all of us as citizens and as members of a university community. We are not the first institution to struggle with the appropriate balance.

In the long term we will address the structural issues of the student newspaper, but in the short term, I would simply ask that you give consideration to the complexity of these matters as we work this out. Dr. Manny Carreiro and I will be leading a small task force to review what might be the best structure for a student newspaper at Quinnipiac. If other university models are any indication, it appears that an independently-owned newspaper may be the long term solution. However, some shorter-term structural changes might address the legitimate University concerns while enabling the newspaper to continue to publish without jeopardizing the privacy rights of all students.

Thanks to the blog, “Graduate Interactive Communications”, for publishing the letter.

With much of last year’s editorial staff leaving to form The QUAD News, Quinnipiac’s other student newspaper, The Chronicle, needed to retool, actually, it was closer to a complete overhaul, a completely new editorial board and staff.  The paper has only four upperclassmen in editorial positions, the other 11 spots are filled by freshman and sophomores, including the newspaper’s managing editor who is a freshman.

The paper published its first issue last Thursday and the editor-in-chief said she received mostly rave reviews from the faculty around campus.  While the paper is adjusting slowly to a new staff it seems that they are off to a good start and will only continue to grow as the semester progresses.

One story missing from the first issue: any news of the issues between the school and The QUAD News.  Nevertheless, there was a letter from the editor wishing The QUAD News the best of luck in hopes of friendly competition, a sentiment shared by The QUAD News.  

The full article printed by The Yale Daily News can be read here: The Yale Daily News

The New Haven Register also published an article on this story: The New Haven Register

Michael Feldstein, wqaq.com

Selling advertising and gaining monetary support can be quite difficult for media outlets, especially if your outlet is a college based 10-watt radio station with less than a five-mile broadcast radius.  This was the unenviable position Michael Feldstein, a senior at Quinnipiac University, found him self in when he became the business manager of the school’s student-run station, WQAQ, at the beginning of last year.

His first year was a bit tumultuous, Feldstein admits he was flying blind and learning through trial and error.  “When I started I didn’t know what I was doing… I made a lot of mistakes last year.  It got overwhelming at a point.”  Feldstein admits he largely taught him self how best to do the job and slowly adjusted the policies and procedures of the position as he gained more experience and expertise.

Feldstein’s responsibilities range from making sure the station remains within its budget, depositing checks, overseeing the contracts for the musicians who play at the station’s Spring Concert, and selling underwriting for the station.  It is that last one that Feldstein set his sights on, a way of leaving his mark on the station.  His predecessor had not been able to secure any underwriting for the station so he felt another strategy might be in order.  “I switched my strategy towards local ‘mom and pop shops’… especially those on Whitney [Avenue].”  Feldstein was able to gain underwriting for the station from Giant View Café and later Ray and Mike’s Deli, bringing in close to an additional $1000 for the station.

 It should be noted that there is a very important and distinct difference between normal advertising and the underwriting that Feldstein worked to procure for the station.  Underwriting, according to FCC guidelines, which can be found in more in-depth detail HERE, cannot persuade the listener to buy a business’s product or even that the listener should visit the business.  “We can’t say ‘go to Ray and Mike’s, best subs in town’… ‘best’, ‘great’, we have to be careful [what words we use] when we write them up.”

All media outlets rely on this type of outside monetary support to stay in business and to continue to serve the community and report on the events and incidents in their community, but Feldstein stresses the importance of keeping the two groups separate and protecting journalistic integrity.  “Corporations have a huge effect on national media… if they do a story on Coca-Cola, like that where they get their sugar cane from pays its workers 10 cents a day, and Coca-Cola’s a sponsor, [a lot of times] they’ll slant that story.”

Feldstein has worked hard to bring in outside revenue to a radio station that last year was named “Organization of the Year” and is one the strongest and most well-thought of at Quinnipiac.  His work, like many others at the station, has helped to accomplish this and will help him and future students gain the experience needed in order for them to become professional journalists.

 

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) recently sent a letter to Quinnipiac President John L. Lahey voicing their concerns about the recent actions taken by Quinnipiac Administration in regards to the recent action the school took, or proposed to take, against the school’s SPJ chapter after allegations were made about the organization covering for the student-run independent newspaper, “The QUAD News”.

It has been well documented the issue that the school has had with the editors of The QUAD, who last year worked for the school paper, “The Chronicle” (including in this blog), and many view this move as a personal attack on the paper, which has been informed it is not allowed to meet on campus as it is not an official Quinnipiac student organization.

In their letter, FIRE stated that they are, “gravely concerned about the threat to freedom of speech and freedom of association presented by the content of a recent letter sent from a Qunnipiac University (QU) administrator to Jaclyn Hirsch of QU’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.”  They add, “We recognize that QU is a private university that may choose to prize certain values higher than those of freedom of expression and freedom of association. We are curious, however, what value Brown is expressing when he bans interaction with an independent student newspaper that has been at odds with QU. Is Brown promoting the value of squelching criticism of the university? Such a value would seem to betray the spirit of debate that should characterize a free marketplace of ideas and a university such as QU, which advertises itself as a “spirited, welcoming campus.”"

I mentioned last week that the problems between the school and the paper had escalated to the point where outside organizations were getting involved as the issue has boiled over and moved beyond a campus issue, and has become a national issue about students’ rights and First Amendment freedoms.

The full article can be viewed here: FIRE Letter to President Lahey