SMU Journal looks to make a comeback

Saint Mary’s student paper about to begin its hiring process

Photo by Amin Helal

St. Mary’s University’s student newspaper, The Journal, has been absent from newsstands, but it will return.

The Journal will be posting job descriptions for editor-in-chief and business manager positions next week, according to chairman of the Journal’s Board of Directors, Travis Smith.

The Journal is a levied society, receiving $4 from every full-time SMU student. In winter 2014, financial difficulties forced the staff to publish monthly instead of bimonthly.

“It’s not like it’s really a big deal,” Smith said, “and I think it went largely unnoticed probably for a lot of the students.”

Around the same time, editor-in-chief Cydney Proctor resigned.

Proctor has not responded to requests for comment.

“It made the most sense for the paper last winter to reduce its schedule to once a month for those last few months, based on staffing and based on costs,” says Smith.

Section editors and a layout designer volunteered extra time to keep the Journal going, even though it didn’t have an editor-in-chief.

Smith is unsure about the publishing schedule this year. That is something the incoming editor-in-chief and business manager will decide.

“It’s an exciting time for The Journal in a lot of ways because whoever steps into that role will have a major role to play in shaping how the paper rolls out,” says Smith.

Smith says staff structure might change at The Journal, with the addition of a junior editor to ensure succession if the editor-in-chief leaves his position.

“People are getting their news quicker [because of social media], so The Journal doesn’t really become a venue for breaking news,” says Smith. “But maybe it has an opportunity to be a little more philosophical and little more in-depth about some issues that are important to students.”