Our editorial board is hired by a group of individuals known as the Publications Board. The student members of this board are appointed by DePauw Student Government, and overseen by Gary Lemon, who is the director of the McDermond Center for Management and Entrepreneurship, as well as a professor of economics. This group of individuals is also responsible for managing The DePauw's budget. Let us clarify that the money in the budget doesn't come from the university, but rather a generous donor by the name of Barney Kilgore and a group of his friends and family.
Let us examine this momentarily. Imagine that the United States government appointed the editor-in-chief and managing editors of The New York Times. This would be, quite clearly, a conflict of interest. This is an extreme example, but relevant, nonetheless as we are a large news source for DePauw's campus.
The students on Pub Board are all well-respected and intelligent individuals. Gary Lemon is also someone we respect enormously. We do not intend to criticize the people who make up the board that hires us. We are grateful to them for appointing us to our positions and allowing us to do our jobs.
However, we do intend to criticize the system. It makes little sense that The DePauw editorial board isn't hired by our own staff. At other schools, editorial board members are often elected by previous editorial board members, or the entire staff takes a vote. The Harvard Crimson, for example, not only elects the editor-in-chief, but they also hire a student to make editorial and financial decisions called a "guard." Each year the new guard is chosen by the outgoing guard.
This makes a lot more sense to us. This would mean that those most invested in the newspaper-those who put it together twice a week-would be in charge of deciding the fate of the paper. The staff members know exactly what goes into making a paper. They are in here 20 plus hours a week putting it together. They know what is required of the editorial board to not only manage the content of this publication, but to defend it.
We haven't felt the chokehold of the board. Our relationship has been good, as we have always strived for the same success. However, if DePauw Student Government didn't have good intentions, this could be potentially problematic for the fate of the paper.
As much as we appreciate all that Publications Board does for us, we can't help but wonder why a group of individuals who are not on staff here at The DePauw have such power over the future of our publication.