I find it hard to believe that BU Today is more of an enjoyable read than the DFP. Of course, the former is funded by the university and has more resources to draw from, but the Free Press is BU’s student newspaper and needs to do a better job in getting the finger on the pulse of the BU community.
I have a couple of suggestions. Limit news on Boston. If I want to read stories on Boston I’ll read the Globe or the Herald. Cover stories on Boston if it affects BU in a significant way or if an alumnus is involved.
Make sure to include an article from other news services or write your own article if an alumnus is involved. Menition in the article what school and year the alumnuis graduated from. For example the TV series ‘Lost’ includes BU alumna, Yoo-jin Kim. Write a review of the show and try to get an interview with her. You could, also, write a review for the new show with Geena Davis, who attended BU in the late 70’s. Howard Stern, perhaps BU’s most famous living alumnus, is planning to switch to satellite radio next year. You can interview him before that happens and get his views on censorship, sexuality, etc. Did you know that BU has a feud with Martin Luther King’s (GRS’55) family over documents that BU has? Perhaps you can interview Robert Brown about this and even Coretta Scott King. It will be 50 years this year since King graduated from BU, so it’s a good time to explore tis issue. Go to Wikipedia’s website and type in Boston University to find out more about BU’s prominent alumni.
Third suggestion: do more investigative pieces on BU. I’m surprised at how much of a free pass the paper has been giving of late to the administration and its practices. For example, try to do a piece on BU’s consulting partner in Washington. I forget the name of the business, but it was briefly mentioned in a Freep article awhile back. How much does BU give them and what exactly do they do? Write an annual article on the highest paid professors and staff at BU and if their pay is really justified. Does BU have a rape counseling center yet? What about the college radio station? I know in my day the station could not be heard beyond a few dormitories. You could write more in depth on how certain schools (SMG and especially ENG) seem to be getting more attention and money and how that affects schools like COM, SED, SFA, etc. Interview the deans of the schools and ask what they think about the state of their schools.
There’s alot more the paper could be doing. I hope some of my suggestions help out and I look forward to being more intrigued by what the independent student newspaper at has to offer than the BU Pravda.
-Freep Reader and CAS’00 (I don’t want you to print my letter)
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