No Centralia College Newspaper, Journalism Classes During Fall Quarter

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    For the first time in decades, students at Centralia College this fall quarter will not have access to a college news publication of their own.

    The blue&gold, an online newspaper produced in tandem with the college’s journalism department, has been cancelled through the fall quarter after no advisers could be found to take up the position of adviser Monica Brummer, who replaced Associate Professor T.R. Gratz in 2008. Gratz had resigned to become a dean of instruction. Brummer moved to another department at the college earlier this year, and in the months following her departure no faculty members had qualifications to take up the duty of adviser for the newspaper.

    “Until we get the adviser position filled, we can’t go on with the student newspaper,” college spokesman Don Frey said. “It could be longer, it could be shorter, but we believe something could change after this quarter to enable us to have a paper again. We’ll have to see.”

    Journalism classes are also affected, according to vice president of instruction John Martens. The journalism class that works side-by-side with the newspaper has been put on hiatus as well, Martens said, apparently as the result of low student interest.

    “It’s always been a decently enrolled program, but we are in tough times right now,” Martens said. “Mass media is still available and there is still interest in that class, but not having a journalism class this quarter is quite different.”

    According to the June 2008 issue of the blue&gold, the Associated Students of Centralia College at that time also faced a decision on whether to fund the paper due to the resignation of Gratz; that issue would be the paper’s last in printed form as it would take solely to the Internet at www.ccbluegold.com afterward. That website today announces the closure of blue&gold through the fall quarter; however, no further information is available, with nary a word written below the headline.

    “Basically there’s nobody to write the news,” said Shelley Bannish, director of student programs, which oversees the paper’s publication. “With the college already having cancelled journalism classes, keeping it up would have been tough.”

    The blue&gold was printed six times per year; articles have been posted online by student staff since summer 2008. However, web traffic over the past few years was minimal at best, Bannish said.



    Student interest in journalism in general has waned, with articles in the blue&gold as far back as 2008 saying the publication was having trouble filling staff positions.

    “Generally, the adviser is responsible for recruiting students to work for the paper,” Frey explained. “We just don’t have the wherewithal to make that happen at this time.”

    Bannish said the student government in upcoming months will have some “hard thinking” to do about the future of a paper that has served as a voice for students for nearly 50 years under a variety of names, the blue&gold moniker having been kept since 1994.

    “It bums me out because as long as I’ve worked here, twenty-something years, there has always been a paper in some form,” Bannish said. “Hopefully it will come back.”

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Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235