The United States Student Press Association (USSPA) was a national organization of
campus newspapers and editors active in the 1960s. It held a national convention of college student newspaper staff each summer at a member college campus, and a national student editors conference in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, each year during the academic year. USSPA was developed as a program of the
National Student Association
The United States National Student Association (NSA) was a confederation of college and university student governments that was in operation from 1947 to 1978.
Founding and early years
The NSA was founded at a conference at the University of Wisc ...
(NSA).
The USSPA formed a national news agency called
Collegiate Press Service
Collegiate Press Service (CPS) is currently the name of a commercial news agency supplying stories to student newspapers. Earlier organizations (now defunct) used the same or similar names in the past.
History of Earlier Organizations
The first ...
(CPS). CPS was spun off and became a
progressive alternative news collective in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Colorado. It, too, later folded, selling its name to a commercial enterprise, and distributing the funds to progressive groups in Denver.
In 1967
Marshall Bloom was designated as heir apparent to assume the Executive Director position and lead the organization, but his push to send student editors to
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and defy the U.S. travel ban led the incumbent executive director and other national staff to withdraw their endorsement and support. Bloom sought to win the position at the annual meeting of the USSPA in August 1967 but lost a close vote of all student editor representatives to another candidate.
Soon after losing that vote, Bloom founded with
Ray Mungo
Raymond Mungo (born 1946) is an American author, co-author, or editor of more than a dozen books. He writes about business, economics, and financial matters as well as cultural issues.
In the 1960s, he attended Boston University, where he served ...
the
Liberation News Service
Liberation News Service (LNS) was a New Left, anti-war underground press news agency that distributed news bulletins and photographs to hundreds of subscribing underground, alternative and radical newspapers from 1967 to 1981. Considered the "Asso ...
.
USSPA later became independent, then suffered financial setbacks in the early 1970s, and disbanded.
Notable members
*
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
served as the second president of the USSPA in 1963–64
[Ebert, Roger]
"Mr. James B. Reston, Washington Bureau, The New York Times..."
/nowiki>letter_from_Ebert_to_James_Reston.html" ;"title="James_Reston.html" ;"title="/nowiki>letter from Ebert to James Reston">/nowiki>letter from Ebert to James Reston">James_Reston.html" ;"title="/nowiki>letter from Ebert to James Reston">/nowiki>letter from Ebert to James Reston/nowiki>, U. of Illinois Archives (Apr. 15, 1966).
* Harry Nussdorf, of Queens College, City University of New York, served as chair of the USSPA National Executive Board 1969–1970
References
Notes
Sources
Librarians Disambiguation Pages for USSPA WorldCat
{{Authority control
Student organizations in the United States