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Cardinal Points, an award-winning student-run weekly newspaper, is one of many campus media at Plattsburgh State University College (PSUC). Before opting for the name Cardinal Points, the student publication was first known as The Northern Light from 1941 to 196l then it became Beekman Street for two years (1967 – 1969), which many considered more of magazine-style writing. In 1969 the studetn newspaper officially became known as Cardinal Points and has been ever since.

In 1998, Cardinal Points became independent of the Student Association when editors butted heads with senators over the right to cover a Macdonough Hall fi re started by a student. In 1999, it became a professional-looking broadsheet. Since then, Cardinal Points has earned seven All Americans, an award that ranks it among the nation’s top 20 percent of campus newspapers. And in 1998 and 2001, it was named by the New York Press Association as the Best Overall College Newspaper in New York, beating out papers from Syracuse, Ithaca and elsewhere. Check out the latest onilne issue of Cardinal Points at http://www.cardinalpointsonline.com

ALL POINTS NORTH, a student-run quarterly online magazine with 16,000 hits since it launched in late-December 2001, takes a hip and authoritative look at the Adirondacks, Lake Champlain, Vermont and Montreal in an eclectic range of stories from signifi cant environmental issues to interesting historical tales to quirky cultural curiosities. It showcases the talents of the students in our magazine journalism program, which last year became the only magazine major in SUNY. Check it out at www.apnmag.com. Plans are in the works for an annual print version of the magazine.

Like these publications, the college’s JOURNALISM PROGRAM has also changed faces — from a Study Option in Journalism in the English Department to a major in XXX and a separate department in 2003. Although the college’s student publications are produced through the collective effort of students majoring either in newspaper or magazine journalism, students from any and all academic disciplines can and do take part.

As times have changed, so have student publications at Plattsburgh. On Sept.15, 1941, three months after the college’s first graduates with a bachelor of science degree and three months before Pearl Harbor, the first issue of THE NORTHERN LIGHT appeared. After its demise in 1961, it was replaced by BEEKMAN STREET, an alternative bimonthly magazine published from 1967-69. In 1969 a weekly newspaper was restarted as CARDINAL POINTS. Dedicated students have served these publications. At times fewer than five students staffed BEEKMAN STREET, which won an All American award for its high journalistic standards in fall 1967. CARDINAL POINTS editors often work 20- 30 hours a week. On Sept. 11, when the Twin Towers were struck, students immediately left the classroom and the newsroom to drive to New York City to cover the story first-hand.

Former contributors to Cardinal Points, Beekman Street or The Northern Light, students have chronicled the political urgencies of the day, changing cultures and the growth of a dynamic college. These publications record a journey through time: from World War II to the Cold War and from the Vietnam War to the bombing of the Twin Towers; from the large crowd waiting the hop in 1941 to the performances of the Brothers Four in 1964 and KISS in 1973; from an enrollment of 542 in 1945 to a student body of 6,700 in 1975, the budget stringencies of the mid-‘70s and the ouster of a college president in the ‘90s. So, can our student publications and journalism programs get any better? Of course, and that is their goal. They want to maintain the best student media in the entire SUNY system, which is why they have outlined a series of initiatives that will help them accomplish this goal. These initiatives, however, cost money — money that they do not have perhaps because editors are paid for the working on the paper. Although staff writers usually are not paid. As a new and small program, the Department of Journalism is embarking on its first-ever fundraising campaign and ask that you help us reach our goals by giving even the smallest sum of money. With this earmarked money for the Department of Journalism, we will be able to: • Supply needed technology for student publications; • Recruit, retain and reward students with scholarships; • Send students to off-campus educational conferences; • Sponsor seminars that address hot-button issues; and • Hold a professional speaker series.

All of these initiatives will help make a very good journalism program and its student publications even better. The quality of Plattsburgh’s journalism education — which includes an internship and about six semesters of participation at Cardinal Points and All Points North — has led many of our graduates to land good jobs right out of school. Nearly 90 percent of our journalism alumni fi nd jobs in their field within two months of graduating. And the work they do for our student publications is a major reason why.

“Each paper we put out is more practice for the jobs we will get once we get out of college,” said Holscher, who is now editor in chief of a weekly newspaper on Florida’s Gulf Coast. “The (All American) award shows this college is truly preparing its students for that moment.” “We sweat, sleep, and live in this (Cardinal Points’) offi ce because we love what we do. Getting the All American means that we’re doing good at what we love,” alumna Katie Holscher said, the newspaper’s editor in chief in the 2003-04 academic year when the paper was named All American for both semesters. To view the professional quality of Cardinal Points, visit the online website at www. cardinalpointsonline.com.

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