The editor-in-chief for the University of Georgia’s student newspaper, Red and Black, was the first of many staff who resigned Aug. 15, 2012, in response to a memo from their governing board, curtailing student control.
Red and Black is a student newspaper and 501c3 non-profit organization. The governing board controls the business side of the organization and has generally allowed students control over content and production.
Advisory Board member Ed Stamper, a member of the Red and Black Publishing Company, released a memo to Editorial Director Ed Morales concerning expectations of Morales and the entire staff Aug. 15.
Morales showed the memo to EIC Polina Marinova who expressed concern and decided to resign in response. According to the former sports desk editor for the Red and Black Nicholas Fouriezo, this action came after several months of increasing pressure from the board to change both the design and content of the paper.
“I’m just so proud of our staff,” said Fouriezo. “Every single one of [the editors] said we will walk with you, and we will not work if you are being forced out like this.”
Fouriezo said Marinova believed some of the changes were unacceptable, including the decision that professional staff would see and edit the paper prior to publication and that she would be replaced if she couldn’t work under those circumstances.
After speaking with Morales, Marinova informed her section editors that she would resign due to these changes. All of the Red and Black section editors and some of the photographers and writers followed suit and resigned.
Wednesday night after their walkout, the former editors started an organization, “Red and Dead,” and began releasing content on WordPress, Twitter and Facebook about the actions of the board that led to their resignation.
“We got some great support from some important organizations,” Fouriezo said. “The Student Press Law Center offered to help us out and paid for our domain name.”
Fouriezo said the memo was the final straw, but staff began feeling pressure in early June when the advisory board requested that the design of the paper be changed.
The story of their walkout spread quickly through online mediums, and the SPLC got involved. Fouriezo said this sparked a response from the board, and an unofficial meeting was called by Read and Black board members Melita Easters and Harry Montevido on Thursday, Aug. 16, between the board and former student staff.
Fouriezo said the three main concerns of the former staff were discussed: the issue of prior review, the resignation of Stamper, and an attempt to make sure something like this would not happen again.
Red and Black board members held a press conference Friday afternoon and issued a public apology. Stamper tendered his resignation from the board and the former staff were allowed to reapply for their positions. Fouriezo said as of press time, all staff had reapplied for their positions.
“The only two people who have to be hired back are the editor-in-chief and the managing editor because they will determine the rest of the staff, and as of now they have reapplied but have not been hired back,” Fouriezo said. “We hope that the board will see our show of good faith, and we hope to see our editorial staff be reinstated at their former positions.”
The official Red and Black student newspaper website is redandblack.com and the website created by the former staff is redanddead.com. A digital copy of the memo can be found through the Red and Dead website.
The Sentinel is the official student newspaper of Kennesaw State University. The Sentinel is a student organization and students have complete control over design and content. Administrators do not make decisions related to content.
