Ten DePauw students were inducted into The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Saturday night in Meharry Hall. Ironically, the same numbner of student journalists founded the now-national organization at DePauw as Sigma Delta Chi fraternity in 1909.
SPJ National President John Ensslin came to campus for the initiation as well as for the chapter's first meeting Sunday afternoon. He explained that when the organization was founded, journalism ethics was in question nationally as yellow journalism became a popular form of reporting.
"DePauw's history is central to SPJ," Ensslin said. "[The founders] brought some seriousness to journalism, and what they launched that day became a fraternity that spread across the country, and a fraternity that then evolved into this society of professional journalists."
SPJ has about 65 professional chapters and 100 student chapters in 41 states.
However, the DePauw chapter's original SPJ involvement faded sometime in the '90s.
"I think part of the problem was when Media Fellows started up here it in some ways took some of the steam out of SPJ because the program brought in a lot of speakers and that was often the role of SPJ: to create forums for journalism ethics and freedom of information issues," said Distinguished Professor of Journalism Ethics Bob Steele, who was initiated as a member of SPJ in 1968 when he was a student at DePauw.
Ensslin recalls how ideas for the chapter to start up again began in 2009 at SPJ's 100th Anniversary event on DePauw's campus. Upon learning that the DePauw's chapter was no longer in effect, Ensslin made it one of his goals to bring it back to DePauw when he became president. He informed his then-colleague Andrew Tangel '03 that he wanted to revive the chapter when he came to campus for a Media Fellows Speaker Series in 2011.
At the chapter's first meeting, the new members discussed possible programming and how they should strive to better inform the rest of the campus about the importance of journalism. The chapter will continue to meet and plan events, such as bringing in guest speakers and holding journalism workshops. Communication Professor Mark Tatge is the chapter advisor, and senior Chase Hall will act as the interim president of the chapter until elections are held later this year.
"I'm looking forward to working with other members," freshman Lauren Owensby said, who was initiated on Saturday. "Chase has some great ideas for what to do with the new group."
Steele commented on the benefits of bringing the organization back to DePauw.
"I think it's an opportunity for DePauw's student journalists to talk in serious ways about the importance of journalism in our society," Steele said. "And in these conversations, recognize that journalism serves a unique purpose that no other profession provides."