In a time of crisis, a college newspaper can do more than inform, says Vanessa Paolella ’21, editor-in-chief of The 乐播传媒 Student. “It keeps the community together.”

“With the pandemic, students have so many questions, all the time,” says Paolella, a geology major from Dingmans Ferry, Pa. “The newspaper has been a really great outlet for us, as the staff, to both answer our own questions and help other students maybe answer some of their own and learn more.”

Sometimes answering questions means sharing breaking news “as fast as possible,” such as when the college announces positive COVID-19 tests or makes an important announcement. “People need to know, and we use our social media to get that message out really fast,” she says.

Video by Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

Other times, the goal is to provide a “deep dive into how students feel about COVID-19 policies on campus, how they’re doing with the challenges they face building community, interacting with each other, and finding their people.”

Journalists, she adds, “provide information and resources that people would not otherwise have, especially right now with the coronavirus pandemic, where there’s so much misinformation and rumors.”

And like all journalists, Paolella sees her newspaper as a vehicle for driving social justice. “One of our most important roles as student journalists is to elevate voices that may not otherwise have been heard.

“There’s so much energy because you have that strong sense of purpose.”

“We also have a really powerful platform to give voices to issues that students care about but don’t know enough about, or provide voice to students’ frustrations or concerns on campus,” Paolella says, such as the in-depth look she offered on the during COVID and remote learning.

Like anyone who feels purpose in their work, Paolella feels the surge of energy, a kind of flow, each Tuesday night as the paper approaches deadlines, and she and her editors work together in their Chase Hall office.

“We’re just working so hard to get to our deadline, reading over articles, making last minute edits, putting things together. You’re working hand-in-hand to get it done. There’s so much energy because you have that strong sense of purpose.”

Paolella came to 乐播传媒 with a single extracurricular focus. “I thought running was going to define who I was at 乐播传媒,” and it has to an extent, as she’s a captain of the cross country team this fall.

“I didn’t come in intending to join the newspaper. But as a senior, especially in these hard times, I think that when I graduate, that having been editor-in-chief is probably going to be my most defining characteristic at 乐播传媒.”

Paolella began her Student editorship right after completing a summer internship with the Lewiston Sun Journal. There, she “learned how fast the news cycle works, and how important it is to get correct information out as quickly as possible.”

That meant turning around a story in just a few hours. “I would be given an assignment at noon and told, ‘We need that for the paper tomorrow.’ I learned to call people up, say what I needed, and get the information together as fast as possible because even waiting an extra day sometimes is just too long.”

In how she works with her staff, Paolella sees herself “as a guide, because so much is done without my help. The meat of the work is done by reporters, editors, photographers, and other staff members.

“Maybe I’ll send them a nudge, ‘Hey, did you hear about this that’s happening on campus?’ Or, after reading through a draft, I might say, ‘Have you talked to these people? Have you considered this other perspective?'”

She’s also willing to dive in when needed, especially since the level of support can ebb and flow as students focus on their first priority, academics.

“Some people can’t take the time each week, so I do whatever I can do to keep the paper running. Writing articles, being first editor, proofing, photographing, working layout.”

Paolella has even been seen delivering print copies on her bike. “I enjoy the whole process.”

Webmaster William Sheehan '17 (left) of Meriden, N.H., and co-editors in chief Amar Ojha '17 (center) of Rocky Hill, Conn., and Noah Levick '17 of Narbeth, Pa,. discuss the upcoming edition.

The final layout is reflected in Levick's glasses.

A couple hours before the midnight print deadline, co-editors in chief Amar Ojha '17 of Rocky Hill, Conn., and Noah Levick '17 of Narbeth, Pa., watch the vice presidential debate.

Managing editor Hannah Tardie '17 of Orange, Calif., puts the final touches on the Forum section.

Managing editors Torry Dobbin '18 of New Canaan, Conn., and Riley Hopkins '18 of Augusta, Maine, finalize the Arts & Leisure section.

Each Tuesday night, a second-floor room in Chase Hall is 鈥渨here the magic happens,” says Amar Ojha 鈥�17 of Rocky Hill, Conn., co-editor-in-chief of The 乐播传媒 Student with Noah Levick 鈥�17 of Narberth, Pa.

Tuesday night is production time for the Student. Section editors arrive first to work on their articles. Copy editors come next, followed by layout editors, who finalize everything with Levick and Ojha.

From there, 1,500 copies are printed by the Lewiston Sun Journal and delivered on Wednesday to high-traffic areas throughout campus.

鈥淭hose six or so hours on Tuesday can definitely be intense,” says Levick, “but they’re also a lot of fun because we’re聽hanging out with some awesome people and聽putting together a final product that we’re proud of.鈥�

Being a 乐播传媒 Student editor, says Ojha, gives him a 鈥渇ront-row seat鈥� as campus life plays out. At the same time, he sees the active role a newspaper can play on a college campus.

鈥淭he paper has been able to raise questions about specific issues, and oftentimes, we get a reply. It’s that sort of dialogue, that back-and-forth conversation, that is emblematic of 乐播传媒’ liberal arts philosophy. And it makes an impact on campus.鈥�

“It’s great to聽have the freedom to express opinions and investigate stories that may not please those in聽power,” says Levick. “One of聽our聽main priorities is聽accuracy, and聽sometimes the most accurate story is not the most flattering to the higher-ups.”

Though , the editors are proud of their commitment to print 鈥� especially because the Student claims to be the oldest coed college newspaper.

鈥淚t’s still pretty cool to see people walking around, holding the physical聽thing that dozens of writers, editors, and photographers labored to produce,鈥� Levick says.

If you think the current economic recession has prompted finger-pointing, check what Harry Rowe ’12, the first editor of this publication, wrote in 1936: “Higher educational institutions are on trial. They are regarded by the Right as communistic; while the Left considers them to be citadels of conservatism.”

Perhaps Rowe was still stinging from an incident a few years earlier when former Maine Gov. Percival Baxter indulged in some statewide Red-baiting. During a December 1931 speech to the Bangor Rotary Club, Baxter said that “one of our Maine colleges is more deeply involved in [teaching communism and socialism] than the others, and many of its students already have been brought under the spell of these false and un-American doctrines.”

乐播传媒 President Clifton Daggett Gray offered the first bit of payback, which Baxter apparently deemed “abusive,” according to The 乐播传媒 Student. The second retort came from the Student itself. While acknowledging that some 乐播传媒 students were active Socialists, the paper asked, “What of it? They are moved by a wish to alleviate the suffering of mankind.” Furthermore, the Student said, “as students confronted with a sick society…we demand the right to seek our own ideals from the raw materials of truth.”

Around that time, the Student reported on a 1931 economic conference in Augusta. There, a Maine electric company official stated that Maine colleges were teaching “babble” and that unemployment is not the “concern of society or of government.” The official’s comment prompted an immediate reaction from 乐播传媒 Professor of Economics (and former debate coach) John Murray Carroll, attending the conference with nine of his students. “Fiery” is how the Student described their subsequent exchange.

The point of all this is not that Carroll called someone out. And it’s not about specific political or economic beliefs. It’s that Carroll’s students saw that ideas are capable of some heavy lifting.

A Maine native who graduated from 乐播传媒 in 1909, Carroll was described as a professor who “tried to induce the student to see the significance of ideas.” It’s known that he inspired the likes of Frank Coffin ’40, LL.D. ’59, the greatly respected federal jurist who, just last fall, was honored for his contributions to legal aid for the poor here in Maine. And he likely inspired the very Student editor who likely wrote those editorials mentioned above. Valery Burati ’32, editor-in-chief in 1931鈥�32, became a labor organizer who, in post-World War II Japan, helped to establish Sohyo, a major confederation of trade unions.

The legacy of professors like John Murray Carroll is seen on the next page, where you can read how anthropologist Elizabeth Eames’ students helped area businesses identify employment barriers facing Somali residents. And on page 28 is a story about psychologist Georgia Nigro’s work to illuminate why some boys fail to thrive in school.

And if there’s a difference between then and now, at least when it comes to the work that 乐播传媒 people do in Maine, it’s that finger-pointing has been replaced by handshakes and, at times, a nice round of applause.

By H. Jay Burns, editor

What’s not been known until now is how Newman probably learned about the 乐播传媒 tradition. That part of the story involves the person copied on the letter, Laurette Cousineau (now Carle), Class of ’86.

Above is the 1987 letter from actor Paul Newman to then-President T. Hedley Reynolds, as reprinted in a 2001 issue of The 乐播传媒 Student.

After one Newman Day of particularly ill-mannered student behavior 鈥� probably 1985, Carle says 鈥� she wrote to the actor, telling him what was occurring in his name. “My roommate, Jennifer Goodwin Oates ’86, remembers watching me sit down at my desk to write it,” says Carle, now a science teacher in Franklin, Tenn. “She got a kick out of it.”

Held since the 1970s, Newman Day usually occurs on the Friday of Winter Carnival weekend. Similar to the more recent tradition at Princeton (which Newman also tried to stop, in 2004), participants try to drink 24 beers in 24 hours while still going about their usual routine. Why the tradition carries Newman’s name is not clear 鈥� maybe because of Newman’s Cool Hand Luke character (50 eggs in an hour) and/or the apocryphal Newman quote: “Twenty-four beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not.”

Today, Newman Day passes quietly. In the 1980s, however, the event prompted lively debate in The 乐播传媒 Student between those who defended it for reasons of personal freedom (to get hammered, apparently) and those who decried its effects on the community.

Back in 1985, Carle recalls getting only a form letter in response to her letter to Newman. Two years later, however, he wrote this letter to Reynolds, copying Carle. Newman’s text, suggesting a community fundraiser instead of a drinking day, is in keeping with the tongue-in-cheek mission of Newman’s Own, the food company he had founded a few years earlier: “Shameless exploitation for the common good.”

Just before Newman Day 1988, the Representative Assembly discussed and pooh-poohed the actor’s letter, with The 乐播传媒 Student reporting that the RA “agreed with the administration that students…should be trusted to handle the day.” (It’s not known if Reynolds responded to Newman’s letter, as neither the letter nor any response is in the official 乐播传媒 Archives. What’s seen here is a version that appeared for a few years running in the late 1990s 乐播传媒 Student.)

The 乐播传媒 deans have tried to stop the tradition over the years, notably in January 1987 when, in the words of then-dean Celeste Branham, “all hell broke loose in Commons” during Newman Day. Afterwards, she hopefully declared that Paul Newman Day at 乐播传媒 “is over.” Perhaps that statement reached the actor, prompting him to express premature “relief” in his letter that the tradition was “quashed.”