Editor mailboxes have been fairly empty for over a month’s time in the newspaper office. There has been very little from clubs or organizations on the NEIU campus to report on. What happened to our once thriving university? This campus use to have activism, information sessions, and fun activities that the clubs and organizations would organize. Just last semester mailboxes were overflowing with these events, so many the Independent could not have possibly covered them all even though we would have liked to.
We are still accepting story ideas and news briefs. That policy has not changed. It’s important that we know what you are doing, even if we can’t do a story for the many reasons there are. Lack of space, not enough staff to cover it and the list goes on. But persistence will get you in as often as we possibly can.
The Independent is not ready to write NEIU off as a ghost town. These things are happening, but for how much longer? Many clubs are having membership issues and money is tight; it’s hard to get $9,000 from SGA for your club event or is it?
The Diwali Festival has grown into a large event, even if the majority of attendees come from outside the university. It is something that we get information on with full page, color ads and is publicized very well. Clubs have abandoned the basic and free promotion that the Independent can provide. Without your name circulated throughout the campus, how can someone expect the university community to know you even exist?
In the real world you won’t get an editorial written about this and you won’t have an editor out searching for your event. This is something the Independent staff has been forced to do because of a lack of notification on the parts of many clubs and organizations on this campus. If you don’t let the news sources know you exist, and that you have an event, they won’t seek you out to get the information.