SCJ PURPOSE: WHAT WE STAND FOR

Service

The traditions of the Society for Collegiate Journalists are imbued with the spirit and legacy of Pi Delta Epsilon and Alpha Phi Gamma. The dominant tradition of the Society, the oldest national honorary collegiate journalism organization, is service.

It is through service that SCJ has become one of the major organizations on many campuses throughout the United States. To the service tradition, the organization owes its enviable record of accomplishments, specifically on the individual campuses.

Because the Society stands for service, membership in it is not to be regarded as an honor in itself, but also as an opportunity for rendering greater service. Whatever traditions may accrue to the Society and its membership in the future, none shall ever supplant the tradition of service.

Throughout the nation, chapters of the Society have taken leadership positions in a wide variety of campus movements. Chapters have been credited with establishing collegiate news bureaus, conducting employment campaigns, establishing publicity programs, sponsoring seminars and workshops, giving scholarships, and helping establish additional college publications, as well as collegiate radio and television stations.

The Society’s Place On the Local Campus

The National Constitution of the Society has been established in the broadest possible fashion to allow each local chapter to establish, within the rules and regulations at that campus, the organization which best fits the needs of the local situation. Therefore, on some campuses, the Society is a “true” scholarship honor organization with a grade-point requirement being the primary criterion for membership. On other campuses, it is designated as an “honorary” organization with other membership criteria, and on still other campuses, it is the publications “club” with social functions as a primary goal.

The broad diversity of local chapter structures has strengthened the impact of the Society at the colleges and universities where chapters have been established. The Society cannot be all things to all members, but its individual campus chapters can, through organization, structure, and goals, create the local Society chapter in the fashion best suited to that particular college or university.

The local chapter of the Society for Collegiate Journalists could well be the clearinghouse for the problems of all campus communications. Meetings could be devoted frequently to consideration of possible disputes between staffs, to constructive criticism of each communications medium when necessary, and to suggestions for improvement in financial supervision and rules governing the election and selection of media staffs.

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