Campus vs. The Coronavirus
This week: Apartment hunting, data visualization, early holiday shopping and transparency in the newsroom.
Hey! Welcome to the first edition of Student Journalism, Nationwide. I hope your Friday is going alright. I absolutely loved reading, watching and listening to the pieces down below…hopefully y’all enjoy them as much as I did!
News
Eclipsed by enrollment: How declining numbers cost four instructors their jobs
Keely Brewer, The Crimson White, The University of Alabama
Brewer explored her university’s English Language Institute’s dependency on international students and showed how COVID-19 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Her clear timeline, use of financial data and incorporation of an existing downward trend make for an excellent read.
‘It felt like there were 4000 people calling for 100 apartments’: After WU announces fall plan, juniors and seniors scramble to find off-campus housing
Matthew Friedman, Student Life, Washington University in St. Louis
Friedman captured students’ desperation to secure off-campus housing after WashU jeopardized the housing contracts of 1,600 upperclassmen five days before they had to opt for remote or in-person learning. This well-rounded piece touches on financial aid subsidies, includes opinions from overwhelmed realtors and addresses community efforts to assist students in their last-minute search for housing.
Features/A&E
A Cycle of Sanctions: how repeatedly disciplined fraternities stay on campus
Kaylee Harter and Sam Raudins, The Lantern, Ohio State
Harter and Raudins’ investigative piece exposes the legal loopholes of Ohio State’s Greek life policies. I love how they used existing archives and even had some transparency about a 7-year gap in existing records. Harter and Raudins clarified national policies for some fraternities, making it easier for non-Greeks to understand the groups involved behind the scene.
Breaking down UNC’s COVID-19 dashboard
Praveena Somasundaram, Angelina Katsanis, Michael Taffe, The Daily Tar Heel, UNC Chapel Hill
Taffe’s data journalism here is just…impeccable. Videos of UNC students and news of COVID-19 clusters recently received national attention, sparking concerns about the reality of public health situations on college campuses. Somasundaram’s explanation of Chapel Hill’s regulations and time-lining of the campus’ first clusters helped the general public follow the outbreak before national wires picked up the story. Yippee for student journalism!
Opinions
Observer Editorial: Don’t make us write obituaries.
Observer Editorial Board, The Observer, Notre Dame
My words can’t do this piece justice. I planned on sharing this other Observer piece, but this one popped onto my radar an hour before the scheduled release. Here, The Observer’s editorial board reacts to nationwide returns to campus and implores their university to be more transparent about the local situation. Very powerful words.
VIEWPOINT: Promote Political Discourse
Ajayan Williamson and Henry Dai, The Hoya, Georgetown University
In a joint statement, the chair of Georgetown University College Republicans and the chair of Georgetown University College Democrats condemned their student government’s decision to advocate for the discipline of a fellow student who had shared their opposition to BLM online. A piece written by two people, especially two political opposites, is an odd dynamic. Also, using a medium of the first amendment to advocate for the first amendment is pretty fitting for a university in our nation’s capital.
Sports
A deadly combination: COVID-19 and college football’s effects on Gators Athletics
Noah Ram, The Independent Florida Alligator, the University of Florida
Ram’s dive into the cash cow of collegiate sports revealed that the pandemic may cripple his university’s athletic department. Instead of only focusing on how the loss of revenue from tickets and TV contracts affects the immediate sport, his article also shows how other sports at the University of Florida are dependent on football money to operate. Ram’s extension into other sports really drove home the impact of the pandemic on university athletics.
Former Penn State baseball players in minor leagues return home to face uncertainty amid coronavirus
Ben Serfass, The Daily Collegian, Penn State
Here, Serfass covers what Penn baseball alumni are doing in place of their cancelled minor league seasons. It’s interesting to read about coaching through Zoom and how family members at home are helping the players retain their competitive edge during this impromptu off-season. It’s an article that has a solid story of athletes trying to grow while adapting to quarantine life.
Audio
Students Reconsider Taking Public Transportation Amid Pandemic
Melissa Ellin, WTBU, Boston University
Students at Boston University rely on public transportation to reach their internships and work-study programs. Ellin’s stellar interviews with concerned students casts doubt on the cleanliness of university endorsed public transportation, even with reduced capacity and increased cleaning schedules. Ellin’s inclusion of a wary freshman is by far the best part of this clip.
Amid pandemic, Sunny Days of Ithaca Adapts and Stands Strong
Skylar Eagle, WICB, Ithaca College
Eagle’s application of a national trend to her immediate community shows that despite quarantine initially helping certain businesses with online revenue, it’s ultimately led to financial instability. What’s great about this clip is how Eagle covered Sunny Days’ owner’s mindset going forward, from physical changes in the store to asking listeners to consider starting their holiday shopping.
Broadcast
As Syracuse University Preps for Fall 2020, Mixed Messaging From Admin Unsettles Faculty
Ricky Sayer and Katie Goralski, CitrusTV, Syracuse University
Recent coverage of school openings during pandemic has shown that faculty have been left out these institutions’ conversations. In this special report, Ricky Sayer reveals Syracuse administration’s “pressure on [professors] to teach from campus.” With smooth transitions and professional chyrons, along with interviews with multiple professors, Sayer’s report fairly presents the conflict these professors face.
A New Normal on USC’s Campus
Finn Carlin, SGTV, University of South Carolina
Carlin takes a general look at the changes the coronavirus has brought to the University of South Carolina’s campus. Students share worries about not having a traditional college experience and admin remains hopeful as they review the guidelines they’ve set in place for the coming year. The voiceovers are perfectly timed with the B-roll, showing a clear transition from a bustling campus to “a ghost town.”
TK: Data Visualization
If you’ve stayed in the loop this past week, you’ve probably seen national coverage surrounding The Daily Tar Heel’s op-ed. What stood out to me about their story was data editor Michael Taffe’s graphic, which has 25,500 views as of Friday morning.
Taffe used Tableau, a paid resource. It’s a bit advanced and requires some stats know-how.
As somebody who’s dabbled a bit in data journalism, my go-to and beginner-friendly resource is Flourish. If you can navigate an Excel sheet, Flourish is a cakewalk. It has templates for every basic graph, map, or chat you could ever need. It’s also a good stepping stone to advanced projects like Taffe’s graphic.
Data visualization helps readers understand the magnitude of a story. Especially when the reporting is numbers-heavy, you’re going to want a more digestible way of getting it to your readers.
So what do the professionals use?
Washington Post data reporter Harry Stevens, who was part of a team that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, codes his own graphics using a blend of D3 and Javascript. Here’s a link to a presentation of his that I watched last year.
Now, you don’t need to sign up for a computer science course, but it’s nice to have some data visualization tools in your kit if you ever need to work with a lot of numbers.
Hope you enjoyed these stories as much as I did. I had a blast putting together this newsletter…I’m already starting to put together next week’s! If you have any student journalism that just captures your eye, feel free to shoot me a DM on Twitter. The inbox is always open.
Until next time,
Alex