REGULAR MEETING
Nov. 14 • 5 p.m.
Witherspoon 107
CALL TO ORDER
The following members were present: Adam Downing, chair; Joe Humphries, Christine Dipietro, Jonathan Melton, Keitris Weathersbe, Tyler Dukes, Lauren Gould, Brian Ware, Will Quick and Adam Compton (non-voting)
Others present: Brandon Wright, Mary Beth Hamrick, John Cooper Elias, Martha Collins, Jamie Gilbert and Bradley Wilson
OLD BUSINESS
- Approval of minutes of Sept. 12 meeting. CLICK HERE. Approved by unanimous consent.
- Approval of October reports. CLICK HERE. Approved by unanimous consent.
- Americana task force update. Jamie Lynn Gilbert and others who met last month agreed to meet once before the next meeting to submit a formal proposal to the Board regarding the reformation of Americana.
- Student Government Constitutional revision update CLICK HERE Tyler Dukes said he would hope that Board members, especially given current problems establishing quorum, would see the need to reform the Board. Board members expressed interest in adding the approval of the new Board structure to the agenda at the earliest available opportunity.
- Agromeck progress. Brandon Wright was hired as interim editor after the resignation of current editor Cynthia Rouf. In her letter of resignation to the Board, Cynthia cited no reasons and gave no indication about whether she would continue on staff in another capacity. Brandon reported that the staff has completed the 40 pages due for the first two deadlines and will have the next set 40 pages due Nov. 17 (Friday) done soon, but probably not in time for the deadline. The next deadline is Dec. 8, making 100 pages due in the plant by the end of the semester. He also reported that the "You're In the Book" postcards that are supposed to be mailed out after each deadline have not yet gone out at all but that the staff is trying to get them out this week. 98 books have been sold. Progress on the pages can be monitored online or by looking at the pages on the wall.
REPORTS
All board-appointed student leaders are required to submit reports before each Board meeting. Reports were due Nov. 7 at 5 p.m.Agromeck: NO REPORT
Americana: NO REPORT
The Nubian Message: CLICK HERE
Technician: CLICK HERE Tyler and Martha Collins reported that the first Society of Collegiate Journalists event, a screening and discussion surrounding the film "The Year of Living Dangerously" on Nov. 13, was successful despite low attendance. About a dozen non SCJ members attended. Assistant professor Dick Reavis hosted the discussion after the film in the Student Cinema.
Windhover: CLICK HERE
WKNC: CLICK HERE Brian Ware added to his report that he did not find the leadership classes that he attended useful and that the last one was "a waste of time." Tyler said he felt the same way about that session. Keitris said she had attended three Leadership Development Series classes and that two of the three were useful. Bradley said maybe the problem was the selection of the courses/instructors and recommended that student leaders (1) require their top staff members to attend so there is a long-term benefit; and (2) work with their advisers to pick classes and instructors.Monthly financial update: CLICK HERE
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Student Media Advisory Board may adjourn into executive session to discuss matters of litigation, potential litigation or personnel.ADJOURN
REPORTS
REPORTS WERE DUE NOV. 7, 2006 at 5 P.M.
NO REPORT
Nubian Message
Keitris Weathersbe, editorNiccoya Dobson · managing editor nickydobson@juno.com
Advisory Board
Sequoia Ireland · photo editor sairelan@ncsu.edu
Elizabeth Miller · copy editor zilrellim@hotmail.com
Cherrelle Mickens · copy editor cmicken@ncsu.edu
Staff recruitment/retention
No new staff members have been hired since the last staff meeting. One photographer has resigned since September, due to course load and schedule. We are still continuing the search for a circulation manager to oversee distribution for the newspaper. The staff includes 15 writers, two copy editors, two photographers, a webmaster and five section editors. We are planning an open house for January and April 2007, to assist the incoming editor with recruitment for the 2007-2008 academic year.
Budget
No significant deviations from the budget. For the future: we are looking to purchase new newspaper bins or restore and maintenance current bins (painting, bin doors, etc).
Leadership course
On Oct. 17, I attended the LDS 051 workshop- Leadership Tools for Women. There, I learned more about what it means to be a woman, a leader and someone who seeks a career. Issues such as balance, time management and stress among women in leadership were addressed. I would recommend this course for any woman in leadership or who may be seeking leadership positions. For November, I will attend the Ethics and Actions workshop. Sept. course- LDS 116 Leadership Practices Inventory
Deadline progress
The staff has been meeting deadlines pretty consistently. The staff has been encouraged to meet deadlines because they seem to see the importance of publishing on a consistent basis; what the readers want.
Staff development
Staff awards will be given monthly. The section that shows the most improvement and remains consistent will be recognized and awarded. Training will take place one weekend a month, focusing on the areas of AP style and copy editing. Also, to provide the staff with a sense of "family," we will continue to participate in social outings as a staff. This will occur once a month, following staff meetings. For the staff manual, one was created this summer and is still in use
With following the recommendations of last year's task force, the Nubian Message advisory board will meet again this semester. This meeting is scheduled for Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Student Media conference area. The board was established to provide the editor with advice and support in producing the publication. The board includes: Dan Holly, editor of the North Raleigh News & Observer ; Fred Hord, director of the African American Cultural Center; Bradley Wilson, adviser for Student Media; Tracey Ray, director of African-American Student Affairs, and Dick Reavis, an assistant professor in English Department. I am looking forward to getting advice from this group again this semester. Nubian Message staff members are encouraged to attend as well (one or two staff members).TECHNICIAN
Tyler Dukes, editorBudget
We are still working to increase the page count in proportion to the increased ad sales throughout the fall semester. One of the things we have instituted, beginning last Wednesday, was changing our minimum page count from eight to 10. My managing editor and I will still hold staff members accountable for filling the paper with content. It is our belief that by doing this, we will force the section editors to start thinking bigger in terms of their coverage.We are also still working on a plan to move to two sections in the spring semester. We will address some of the preliminary issues surrounding this move at the design workshop Nov. 19, organized by Bradley Wilson and former Managing Editor Patrick Clarke.
Staff Recruitment/ Retention
As I mentioned in last month's board meeting, I have accepted Photography Editor Pete Ellis' letter of resignation. Pete left Oct. 24, and I have since selected Ronald Nause, former senior staff photographer, as his replacement. Ronny has done an excellent job so far and works extremely well with not only his photography staff, but the members of the editorial board as well. I very much believe that Ronny's presence will lead to an increase the quality of photography in the Technician.We're continuing our "Monthly Mingles" with the staff, and we had a pretty big showing during the event for October. One thing we decided to add to the award ceremony was a slide show that shows the entire staff who was nominated for the awards. This gives everyone a great opportunity to see what work is best each month and also gives the nominees and winners a chance to have their work showcased to the rest of the staff. Below are the award winners for this month.
Production Schedule/Goals
- PHOTO -- "Take me out to the fair" | 10.16 · Matt O'Bryant
- STORY -- "Sparking the Adrenaline Rush" | 10.11 · Kathleen Gordon
- EMPLOYEE -- Saja Hindi , assistant news editor
DESIGN -- Page One | 9.29 · Katie Graf- CARTOON -- A.J. Klingenmaier | 10.9
We're still meeting the 1 a.m. deadline. In October, we've had an 85 percent success rate at doing so. But still, we are sorely lacking when it comes to meeting our midnight deadline. It's my perception that we have been turning in page closer to midnight (i.e. before 12:30 a.m.), but I have a feeling that the staff turnover we've experienced since the fall has affected our ability to meet the midnight goal. Josh and I are still working on it, and I think the November numbers may show some improvement.
We're still doing well with sources, and so far have had an average 3.29 sources per article to date in the fall.
Leadership classes
Last month I attended LDS 170, Risk Taking. I walked into the session hoping to learn more about how to evaluate which risks to take and which to pass up, but I learned absolutely nothing from it. The session was taught by two students who are seniors at the University. This was a major disadvantage in my mind because I felt like the two individuals were not qualified to tell me about risks. Also, they treated risk as if it was a "comfort zone" issue and made it seem like all risks were valuable opportunities.
I'm hoping the next class I will be taking, LDS 193, Turning Vision into Action, will be more beneficial to me than the last course.
Monthly training
Bradley Wilson and Patrick Clarke are organizing a comprehensive design workshop on Nov. 19. The workshop will address some of the issues we've had over the semester, but the primary goal will be to brainstorm and design several different things. One will be the section front for the second section we hope to begin producing in the spring. Others will be various formats of story telling devices to use throughout the paper that will draw in readers and make the paper more exciting and the information inside more useful.
Twelve members of the staff also went to St. Louis Oct. 25 - 29 to participate in the annual College Media Advisers/Associated Collegiate Press Student Media Convention. The entire group was charged with writing summaries for each of the sessions they attended and, like last year, we will compile all of the summaries into a publication for the entire staff. In this way, every member of the Technician will be able to benefit from our members visiting this convention.
One of the most important things I feel like I got from this session was what I learned during our critique from newspaper design mogul Tim Harrower. After perusing a few issues of the paper, his perception was that we do not focus our coverage enough to the reader, preventing them from adequately gaining much from our content. In a word, this makes our newspaper "boring." I felt like the section editors who participated in this critique took Tim's message to heart and much of our efforts during the next few weeks (i.e. during the design workshop) will address his critique.
Board Reform
During the Leader of the Pack elections, the student body approved the SMA Independence Referendum with 75 percent of the vote. Our next step now is to pass an interim set of governing documents and to approve a new constitution that will be placed on the referendum during the spring elections.
Letter to the Editor policy
After soliciting feedback from 10 to 20 other student-run newspapers around the country, I've drafted up a formal letter to the editor policy. We'll work this policy onto the Viewpoint page following the Nov. 17 design session and will be effective as soon as it is printed. The new policy is below.
The Technician welcomes letters from all of its readers.
Letters must be submitted before 3 p.m. the day before publication and must be limited to 250 words. Letters exceeding this limit may be edited to fit the allotted space. All writers must include their full name and, if applicable, their affiliation, including year and major for students and professional titles for University employees. For verification purposes, the writers must also include their phone number, which will not be published. Contributors are limited to one letter per week. Submission does not guarantee publication and the Technician reserves the right to edit for grammar, length, content and style. Letters are printed as space on the Viewpoint page permits. High priority is given to letters that are (1) critical of the Technician and its coverage and (2) of interest to the student body. Representative letters may be published if the paper receives multiple letters on the same topic. Additional letters and full versions of partial letters may be published online. Once received, all submissions become the property of the Technician . Letters to the editor are the individual opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Technician staff or N.C. State University.
Please submit all letters electronically to viewpoint@technicianonline.com , or typed and mailed or delivered to 323 Witherspoon Student Center Box 8608, NCSU Campus, Raleigh, NC 27695.
WINDHOVER
Lauren Gould, editorBudget
No deviations from the budget have been made at this time.Staff recruitment/retention
All paid staff members have been hired including: Lauren Gould, editor; Joshua Smith, designer; Libby Levi, designer; Paul Venuto, designer; Becca Mayfield, assistant designer; Minori Sanchiz, literary editor; Joel Mikkelsen, music editorVolunteer positions are still open to literary readers.
Production schedule
Reception date has been confirmed by the Craft Center at N.C. State for Wednesday, April 18, 2007. This is approximately one week earlier than last year.Submission Advertising
The Web site has been redesigned and updated with easily accessible submission information (www.ncsu.edu/windhover). Advertising postcards including submission information and the deadline for submissions are being distributed all over campus. As opposed to using posters as the main method of advertising, which are often taken down or covered over by other advertisements soon after they are put up, we feel that postcards will be more effective since they can be individually handed out or placed in popular areas. We have ads running in Technician , Technician online, and at the Campus Cinema. We also plan to advertise on WKNC. We have a Facebook group open to N.C. State students which currently has nearly 150 members, and will provide reminders to those members to submit. We are in the process of contacting professors from different arts departments who will be asked to make an announcement to their classes including submission information. In addition, we will send emails to students in different arts departments asking for submissions.WKNC
Brian Ware, general managerBudget
WKNC is working to correct deviations from the budget in terms of sponsorship income. The Business Office has been actively pursuing sponsors and has also met with Sue Weiss who is the Corporate Support Manager for WUNC in a consultation to discuss how to pull in more sponsors for WKNC.Staff Recruitment/Retention
The fall semester WKNC training class is nearly finished. They will be taking their written tests soon and shortly after that will be taking their board operators test. This class has been very successful. Initially 24 students attended the training class. Over the course of the following two weeks, four had dropped out and we picked up an additional seven students putting the total number expected to graduate at 27 students.WKNC also was present at the Fall Open House representing Student Media to possible incoming freshmen.
Production/Goals
Currently the next project due on WKNC's engineering list is the completion of the closed production studio. The goal is to have Production 1 as it's called fully operational and broadcast ready ASAP. Also, the staff has finalized the details for the 40 th Birthday Bash which will be taking place on the weekend of Nov. 10-11. One other item to note is that the Wolfpack women's basketball season is just about to begin and WKNC is preparing board operators for the broadcast of those games as per our contractual agreement with Wolfpack Sports.Leadership Classes
As of this month I have taken two leadership classes: LDS 019 Team Building and LDS 170 Risk Taking. For November I plan on taking LDS 193 Turning Vision into Action. As of my previous LDS class Risk Taking I felt that I had 1 hour of my time wasted that night. The class was not helpful in any way because the risk taking taught in that class pertained only to personal decisions and issues, not professional situations. I would not recommend this LDS class to anyone within student media as a supplement to their professional responsibilities. This class is more acceptable for small campus groups such as Greek life and honor societies.Items of Historical Interest
WKNC sent five staff members to St. Louis for the annual ACP/CMA/CBI National College Media Convention. I attended along with Program Director Chanon Smith, Chief Engineer John Jernigan, Promotions Director Nicole Griffin and Station Advisor Jamie Lynn Gilbert. We attended several different seminar sessions pertaining to the future of radio and effective radio management. We gathered some very valuable information at this convention and I feel that some of what we learned will be incorporated into WKNC in the coming months. I highly value this trip, and future leaders of WKNC would benefit greatly from going to these conventions annually.WKNC will be taking part in the Homecoming Parade Friday, Nov. 3 as a way to promote the station to the student body and to bring the staff closer together.
WKNC had an alumni reunion gathering at Kulture on Saturday, Oct. 14. Several alumni showed up and we had a great time discussing how WKNC has grown over the years. Several past general managers, program directors and music directors were in attendance that gave the current staff advice as well as anecdotes from the past.
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