Student Journalist of the Year: Melissa Harris

Melissa Harris, a Virginia Wesleyan College senior, has won the National Student Journalist of the Year Award from the Society for Collegiate Journalists.

The award honors an SCJ chapter member who has represented the spirit of the First Amendment by making an outstanding contribution to student journalism.

“Of course, I’m very honored and excited to win the award,” she said. “It’s very gratifying for hard work to be recognized.”

Harris, 22, is a graduating communications major at VWC. For two-years she has been Sports Editor for The Marlin Chronicle, the college’s award-winning campus newspaper. A Dean’s List student, she is also a classical and jazz soloist, softball player and waitress (at Johnny Mango’s Bar and Grill in Virginia Beach). She has helped build houses with the VWC chapter of Habitat for Humanity. She has volunteered her services advising the young newspaper staff at Indian River Middle School.

“I love working with children and thought it would be great to share my experience and help them to be journalists, too,” she said.

Harris, the retiring VWC chapter president of SCJ, has already been honored by her peers with a Certificate of Citation for her contributions to collegiate journalism. She recently won a Virginia Press Association award for headline writing. Harris freelances for the Virginia-Pilot, the Hampton Roads Daily, and the Fauquier Times Democrat, the weekly newspaper of her hometown, Marshall, VA.

“Working with different professionals under different managements has been very helpful to me,” Harris said.

She plans to pursue a career in public relations for organizations supporting disabled and disadvantaged children.

A victim of debilitating and painful endometriosis, she never missed a beat or a deadline, noted Bill Ruehlmann, advisor to the VWC chapter of SCJ.

“I feel Mel’s example is a truly fine one for all of us in the profession,” he said.

A Thumbnail Guide to the New Federal Campus Crime Reporting Law

BACKGROUND: In 1990, President George Bush signed into law the Campus Security Act, now known as the Clery Act, mandating an annual summary of college crime statistics for students, faculty, staff, prospective students and their parents. Many colleges ignored or violated the law. In 1996, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Resolution 470, calling on the U.S. Department of Education to vigorously enforce the campus crime disclosure law. Few colleges were cited for non-compliance. Congress then took up the Accuracy in Campus Crime Reporting Act (ACCRA) and incorporated it into the Higher Education Act of 1998. It calls for four kinds of reports from colleges: a daily campus police log of crime open and accessible to anyone, “timely reports” of crimes that present a danger or threat to the college community, lifting of FERPA restrictions on campus court proceedings, and a broadened and enhanced annual report on campus crime statistics. Final draft regulations were issued by the U.S. Department of Education on November 1, 1999. Student journalists and community newspaper reporters should print out or photocopy Part IX, 34 CFR, Part 668 of the Federal Register for 11-1-99, Vol. 64, No. 210.

DAILY CAMPUS POLICE LOG

All colleges in the U.S., public and private, receiving any federal funds (and that is all but two or three in the U.S.) must now (effective Oct. 1, 1998) “make, keep and maintain a daily log, written in a form that can be easily understood, recording all crimes reported” to the campus security office. This daily log must be “open to public inspection” for anyone and everyone.

Logs for the most recent 60 days must be available upon request. Older logs must be made available within two days of such a request. All crimes are to be added to the logs within two business days, including those on campus and off, within campus patrol areas. Logs must contain at least the nature of the crime, the date and time it occurred, and the disposition of the crime. Exceptions are rare and must be justified. Refusal or neglect should be reported immediately to the nearest Region Office of the Department of Education.

Private and public colleges must also issue “timely reports to the campus community on crimes considered to be a threat to other students and employees.” A “timely report” is defined as one “that will aid in the prevention of similar occurrences,” such as a serial rape, robbery or mugging.

Each year, early in the autumn semester, all U.S. Colleges receiving federal funds (including Pell Grants), public and private alike, must report accurate statistics on homicides, manslaughter, sex offenses (rape), robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, car theft, arson and hate crimes. Liquor law, drug law and illegal weapon violations must also be reported when they involve an arrest or disciplinary referral. Statistics are compiled from reports from campus police, student life, personal, RA’s, coaches and outside police. The annual statistical report must also state college policies on security, working with other police, and education programs on alcohol and drug abuse, sexual assault and crime prevention.

If anyone has evidence that not all crimes are being reported, that person should notify the Department of Education Regional Office.

ADDENDUM: Failure to comply with any provision of these new federal campus crime reporting requirements may result in a fine of $25,000 and the possible loss of federal funding.

You will find a list of each Regional Office for the U.S. Department of Education, and their Directors on page four of this issue of The SCJ Reporter. Journalists who meet resistance from college officials in obtaining timely reports on campus crime are advised to call or email the Regional Office nearest them and issue a formal complaint.

* This sketch is provided by Dr. William M. Lawbaugh, Chair of the Campus Crime Task Force, a coalition of more than a dozen journalism organizations including the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Newspaper Association and College Media Advisers, Inc.

Private Law Suits and Crime Reporting on the Agenda

KENTUCKY CAMPUS CRIME BILL GOES TO GOVERNOR

The Kentucky state Senate unanimously approved the “Michael Minger Act” yesterday, a bill that would expand campus crime reporting requirements on Kentucky campuses and provide for civil penalties. The next step is approval by Kentucky Governor Paul Patton. The bill is named for a student killed in a 1998 arson fire at Murray State University and has been endorsed by Security on Campus.

Provisions which would have allowed private lawsuits against state colleges and their employees were deleted in the House Education committee. For additional information about this bill please see the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission’s official web site at www.1rc.state.ky.us/record/00rs/HB3.22.htm.

TEXT OF RULING CLOSING CAMPUS COURT RECORDS POSTED

The text of U.S. District Judge George C. Smith’s decision closing public access to student disciplinary records at Ohio State University and Miami University of Ohio has been posted to the SOC web site.

This ruling effectively overturns a 1997 Ohio state Supreme Court ruling that such records had to be released under the state’s public records law. Under a 1998 amendment to federal privacy laws, the schools can continue to disclose limited information from cases involving crimes of violence or non-forcible sex offense where a student was found to have violated a school rule. Other records, such as the names of accused students, victims, and other details will remained closed.

To read this ruling go to the court cases page in the public policy area of the SOC web site, select the Miami University of Ohio Cases page and it is listed as the “Final Decision” (3/20/00) of the current case.

For more information please also see today’s Columbus Dispatch at www.dispatch.com/news/newsfea00/mar00/215534.html.

Links to the SOC web site from your organizational and personal web sites are important to us. We would like to thank those of you who have already provided such links, and encourage your continued support. Those of you with links already on your sites, or those who would like to add them can find graphics associated with these links as well as instructions for linking to specific pages (many of which have recently moved) at www.campussafety.org/soc/linking.html.

Shedd Wins Barker Award

Shirley Shedd, newspaper adviser at Evangel University, was named the first recipient of the Sheridan Barker Adviser of the Year Award at the biennial convention of the Society for Collegiate Journalists in New York City March 17, 2000.

Shedd has been adviser to The Lance since 1981. During that time, she has seen the production process go from sending copy out to a typesetter and pasting up galleys, using line tape, etc. through photo typesetting to completely computer-produced pages using photos scanned in via a negative scanner.

The paper has gone from a biweekly to a 12-page weekly paper that has won awards on a consistent basis. In 1998, The Lance was inducted into the Associated Collegiate Press Hall of Fame.

Many of her students have gone on to successful careers in communication. Her editor for 1996-97 was recently named the best feature writer of the year by the Thomson chain of newspapers and received the Best In-Depth Feature award from the Hoosier State Press Association.

In addition to advising the paper, Shedd teaches a full load of classes each semester which includes such courses as Intro to Mass Communication, News Reporting and Editing, Mass Media Law, and the Freshman and Senior Seminars in the department. She has been the chair of the Communication Department at Evangel since 1987.

Currently, she is vice president of the Association of Christian Collegiate Media and third vice president of SCJ. She is a member of the Society for Professional Journalists and College Media Advisers.

Shedd has attended every fall meeting of ACP/CMA since 1981, regularly presenting sessions at the conferences.

She is also a free lance writer. Most of her work has been for various publications for the Assemblies of God, the parent denomination of Evangel University. She has written curriculum for Beginner through Junior age levels for Sunday school and has had articles published in more than seven of the A/G periodicals.

In 1984, she did a 4-part article on new Missouri Governor (now Senator) John Ashcroft for Springfield Magazine. Shedd has been married to A. Glenroy Shedd, an associate pastor at Central Assembly of God in Springfield, MO, for 36 years. They have three grown children (one an associate pastor in Virginia, one completing his doctorate in mechanical engineering, and one a pharmacist), and three beautiful granddaughters.

Tennessee Tech receives McDonald Award for Outstanding Chapter

Tennessee Tech is a vigorous and active chapter. There are currently 14 members under the leadership of President Kelly Mulkey, Vice President Lindsay Pride, Secretary/Treasurer Krista Richmond. Five members graduate in the fall and four members will graduate in the spring. Six new members were initiated on April 29 and the chapter hopes to pick up more outstanding journalists in the fall.

Six members attended the annual SEJC Convention in Milledgeville, Ga. The students were Heather Mullinix, Kelly Mulkey, Kevin Brown, Krys Midgett, April Blevins, and Gretchen Hollars. The chapter received an honorable mention for "The Stubblefield Times" in the Special Section category. Two of our members received awards for on-site competitions. Mullinix received second place for layout and design, and Hollars received an honorable mention for headline writing.

Tennessee has an annual picnic at Cane Creek Park. At this picnic, they have their awards ceremony for the year. Awards are the Medal of Merit, Certificate of Merit, and The Sidney L. McGee Scholarship. The McGee scholarship goes to students who have gone beyond what is expected of them in class.

Professor Hix Stubblefield retired in the fall after more than 30 years of teaching. The chapter had a surprise retirement party in October and published a special paper in his honor entitled "The Stubblefield Times." A scholarship was established in his name by the alumni association of the university.

Brenda Wilson joined their program in the spring. Wilson is a graduate of Tech and received her masters at Middle Tennessee State University. Other professors are Earl Hutchison and Russ Witcher. Witcher will receive his doctorate in the spring. Mary Gillentine is the current media secretary.

**Kelly Mulkey is the President of the McDonald award winning chapter at Tennessee Tech.

NOTICE

As of July 1, 2000 the following fee schedule will apply:

• Lifetime Initiation: $30

• Chapter Charter: $25

• Chapter Reactivation: $15

NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

So another academic year draws to a close. It has been an active and vigorous experience for SCJ. We held our Biennial National Convention and, as usual, the work of the delegates provided us a blueprint for our next two years. Our network is striving to expand, especially by providing new opportunities with the National Newspaper Association. Our leadership has also expanded as delegates expanded the SCJ Constitution to create a new National Council position: Third Vice President, a position Shirley Shedd from Evangel has accepted. Bill Ruehlmann of Virginia Wesleyan and Jeff Harman of Muskingum have come aboard as Second Vice President and First Vice President, respectively.

So as this year ends I want to note our future for the ‘00-’01 academic year: Recruitment and Retention. Clarion University hosted the third College Press Day in November ‘99 and at that time SCJ delegates met to form Region I and agreed to continue efforts to improve the Regional SCJ Convention. We invite active and vigorous chapters in other regions to accept the Clarion template and host similar regional events. Already Western Maryland has hosted such a convention, so we have a start. Be sure this is for everyone who wants a larger role, and voice, in a National Society, but for now, summer beckons.

*Dr. Barlow runs the SCJ National Office. If you have an article or a story idea e-mail him at barlow@clarion.edu.