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The Albany Student Press or the ASP, the newspaper of the University at Albany, The State University of New York, is one of the oldest continuously published and independent college newspapers in the United States¹.

First published monthly in 1892 as the Normal School Echo the paper would evolve into a weekly in 1916, known as the State College News. The newspaper has evolved into a comprehensive news agency with a circulation of about 10,000^{citation needed}. It is released on Mondays during the school year and is published by the Albany Student Press Corporation.² The paper covers campus news, sports, and entertainment, and it includes opinion columns by students.

History

The State University News began publishing in the fall of 1916. From 1892 to 1916 a monthly periodical that featured student work was published under the title "The Normal School Echo". The newspaper officially changed its name to the Albany Student Press in 1963 to reflect the growing shift to a major research university. By the 1960s, the newspaper had a growing readership, increased coverage of world, national, and state events. The paper was published twice a week — Tuesdays and Fridays — for many years, but later switched to once a week. In the fall of 1997, the ASP launched SUNY Albany's only creative writing and arts magazine, The Fountain Pen.

The current masthead was developed in 2001. It depicts purple ASP lettering with a spear running through the letters. A snake, an asp, is intertwined with a spear. The helmet of Minerva, the Greek goddess of wisdom and symbol for UAlbany, is off to the side. Additionally, the Albany Student Press jumped to cyberspace in 2002 with its own website, TheASP.org. The website had to be temporarily shut down after it was discovered that the webmaster had used the source code from another college newspaper. The site was redesigned and used until 2006, when the ASP partnered with College Publisher to create their current online edition.

In 2005, the newspaper changed its printing service Staffield Press to printing with the Albany Times Union. The newspaper is now in full color on the front and back and is also significantly larger. Some charge the newspaper has "sold out" to media conglomerate Hearst Corp. (owners of the Times Union), a charge denied by editors, who still retain full editorial control over the newspaper^{citation needed}.

George Randolph Hearst III is the president of the board of directors for the University at Albany Foundation. Besides serving the University, he is the vice president and associate publisher of the TU. The ASP had to change from the tabloid size that it had been since its 1916 founding to a broadsheet publication to match an inserted copy of the TU in papers distributed on campus. In exchange for the increased exposure to a desirable market demographic, the company now provides internships and job-shadowing opportunities for ASP staffers.^{citation needed}

Breaking stories

When the University Auxiliary Services attempted to secretly change meal plans on campus in the spring of 2002, the ASP published a leaked copy of their proposals, which led to campus protesting and a different negotiated plan.

In 2002, the Albany Student Press broke the story of a professor who was caught plagiarizing over 50 pages of a published work. The story brought to light a cover-up by the administration and lead the faculty to demand an explanation and follow-up actions.

In 2004, Student Association, UAlbany's student government, had settled a legal dispute with student funds and it was kept quiet until reported by the ASP after a large investigation. The ASP also uncovered an incident in the spring of 2004, when two Student Association officials were involved in a drunken brawl in downtown Albany. Additionally, the newspaper reported that the University was not doing all it could to recycle, prompting an investigation from college president Kermit L. Hall.

Criticism

The majority of reader complaints directed towards the Albany Student Press have to do with Op/Ed material and the personalities who are printed for the newspaper's weekly circulation. SUNY Albany graduate Ginger Hanson debuted "SUNY Girl's Guide" in 2003, a weekly recounting of her own sexual exploits and subsequent advice for fellow students. While many traditionalists and religious students railed against the graphic portrayal of SUNY Albany college life as a never-ending drunken party, the backlash quickly catapulted Hanson into campus fame and "SUNY Girl's Guide" became simultaneously the most decried and popular Op/Ed feature during her time writing for the Albany Student Press. While many traditionalists and religious students railed against the graphic portrayal of SUNY as one drunken party, it quickly catapulted Hanson into campus fame and became one of the most widely read columns in The ASP.

Some columns, akin to "SUNY Girl's Guide," are primarily constructed around sexual content and themes, and contain adult language not normally found in college newspapers.

Stephen Leon, editor of the Albany-based alternative newspaper Metroland, in addition to being a professor at SUNY Albany, has a reputation of openly criticizing ASP articles in front of his students.

The Student Voice, a now-defunct student government funded magazine, published an editorial in an October 2005 issue stating that the newspaper was "trading innovation for renovation". While never mentioning the newspaper by name, the author referred to it as a "certain student press" and took the staff to task on several production errors and news gathering techniques.

References

1. ^ Who Has America's Oldest College Newspaper?
2. ^ Albany Student Press

External links

• The Albany Student Press
• Chronological History of the University at Albany, SUNY

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 18 November 2008, at 09:54.

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