MY LAST SEMESTER
Facing campus administration to report the news
While attending the University of Memphis I spent seven consecutive semesters at The Daily Helmsman, the university's independent student newspaper. I worked as a reporter, a managing editor and the editor-in-chief.
During my final semester The Helmsman printed a story about a student who claimed she had been sexually assaulted twice in 20 days by different male students. Neither assault had been reported by the university to students through the crime warning system. Even though one of the alleged rapists had been indicted by the grand jury, the victim found herself currently attending classes in the same building as the indicted suspect and said she was terrified.
The president of the university called the reporting “not responsible journalism,” during a campus town hall and the university provost called the article “salacious.”
In response I wrote a page-one editorial, "We stand by our story," explaining the methodology of reporting the story and why the staff believed it was important for the paper to keep campus informed about sexual assault.
Students unaffiliated with The Helmsman then began demonstrating on campus for victims’ rights, waving copies of The Helmsman and handmade signs in front of the University Center. The demonstrations continued for several days and Memphis' daily newspaper The Commercial Appeal as well as local television stations reported on the situation, giving The Helmsman credit for breaking the story.
The University president immediately scheduled a two-hour “open conversation” for students, faculty and administrators to voice their concerns. We at The Helmsman wrote and published large portions of the heated event word-for-word in Q & A format.
The president implemented seven new measures the university would take to curb sexual assault on campus. He also decided to have a monthly event for students to meet with him in smaller numbers to let him know issues on their minds.
What started as the reporting of one important story quickly became a larger project by The Helmsman editors to bring about greater understanding and prevention of sexual assault. It should be noted that our efforts preceded recent national sexual assault stories (Roy Moore, Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer). The Helmsman was leading the national trend, and not following it.
The talented team of reporters and editors I lead received a 2nd place award in “Public Service Journalism” at the South Eastern Journalism Conference (SEJC) as a result of our work.