''The Collegian'', which published its first issue on March 16, 1931, is the on-campus newspaper for
La Salle University
La Salle University () is a private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle.
History
La ...
,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. It is published weekly throughout the school year. The newspaper is written, edited and produced by students of La Salle University, underneath a faculty adviser.
History
Founded in March 1931, the ''Collegian'' was La Salle's third student newspaper, following two short lived publications in the late 19th century, both called ''The Advance''. The ''Collegian'' was initially four pages in length, and generally took a more conservative and isolationist editorial stance, though the latter was dropped after the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
. Unlike many student organizations at La Salle which ceased to function due to the war, such as the
football team and ''The Colophon'' literary magazine, the ''Collegian'' continued publication.
In the post-war years, the ''Collegian'' prospered, beginning weekly publication and going from a record low of seven issues in the 1945–1946 academic year to a record high of 32 in the 1950–1951 year. During the 1960s, the ''Collegian'' was used by La Salle students to give voice to a number of causes including the honoring of La Salle's first president, Brother Teliow and the
anti-ROTC movement at La Salle.
In 2011,
La Salle was under fire because it censored a ''Collegian'' story about a professor's hiring of strippers to perform at a lecture. "We didn't publish a story because we weren't allowed," a ''Collegian'' editorial wrote. University administrators forbade Collegian leaders to write a front-page story on the topic, so they put in on the underside. So, the front of the newspaper was left blank and just said "See below the fold," where there was a story of the stripper scandal below the blank white front page.
In the 2016–2017 school year, the ''Collegian'' changed its header from a dark blue to a classic white. The paper also followed suit with newspapers around the country in publishing an endorsement of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election.
In 2017–2018, the ''Collegian'', headed by Editor-in-chief MegAnne Liebsch, reported on La Salle University's sale of 46 pieces of art from its internal art collection. The sale included pieces by Elisabeth Frink and Ingres, but netted below the predicted $4.8 million.
Collegian Award
From 1949 to 1969 and from then intermittently afterwards, the ''Collegian'' presented the "Collegian Award" for public service in journalism to a professional journalist at its annual banquet. Recipients of the award include
Ed Sullivan (1949),
Bob Considine (1951),
Red Smith (1952),
Edward R. Murrow (1953),
David Lawrence (1955),
Jim Bishop
James Alonzo Bishop (November 21, 1907 – July 26, 1987) was an American journalist and author who wrote the bestselling book ''The Day Lincoln was Shot''.
Early life
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he dropped out of school after eighth grad ...
(1956),
Chet Huntley
Chet is a masculine given name, often a nickname for Chester (given name), Chester, which means ''fortress'' or ''camp''. It is an uncommon name of England, English origin, and originated as a surname to identify people from the city of Chester, En ...
(1958),
Walter Cronkite (1960),
David Brinkley
David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997.
From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, ''The Huntley–Brinkley Re ...
(1961),
James Reston
James Barrett Reston (November 3, 1909 – December 6, 1995), nicknamed "Scotty", was an American journalist whose career spanned the mid-1930s to the early 1990s. He was associated for many years with ''The New York Times.''
Early lif ...
(1962),
Charles Collingwood (1963),
Art Buchwald (1964),
Nancy Dickerson
Nancy Dickerson (January 19, 1927 – October 18, 1997) was an American radio and television journalist and researcher for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As famous as a celebrity and socialite as she was for her journalism, she later ...
(1965),
Charles M. Schulz (1966) and
Tom Curley (2013).
References
La Salle University
Newspapers published in Philadelphia
Student newspapers published in Pennsylvania
Publications established in 1931
1931 establishments in Pennsylvania
{{Pennsylvania-newspaper-stub