The Indiana Student

In the beginning\nThe Indiana Daily Student has changed in many ways since Feb. 22, 1867 -- when the first issue of the school newspaper ran.\nIU students wanted a school newspaper for a long time, but IU did not have one because of a lack of funding. Finally, in 1867, about a half a dozen students organized a meeting and a student newspaper was founded, according to a study done last semester by Owen Johnson's C201 journalism class. \nThe IDS stopped publishing in 1874 because of financial reasons but was reinstated eight years later by a student who would later become president of IU -- William Lowe Bryan. \nIn its early days, the paper was owned and run by the students, according to past issues of the IDS. \nBut in 1911, when the IU journalism department was formed, the IDS became a "laboratory" newspaper, and every journalism student had to work on it -- they worked for course credit and received a grade for their work, said Marjorie Blewett, former IDS editor and IU School of Journalism placement and alumni director. The name of the IDS varied throughout the years from The Indiana Student, The Student and Daily Student.\nIDS under student control\nThe IDS became independent of the University with the adoption of its charter July 1, 1969. The charter states that IU owns the IDS but does not support the paper financially. The paper is run by student editors who decide what goes in each issue. The IDS is funded solely by advertising and is not a part of the School of Journalism. Students fought for this independence from the University for more than a year before the IU Board of Trustees accepted it.\nAfter the charter went into effect, journalism students were no longer required to work at the IDS.\nBlewett said the period of student activism -- from the 1960s to early '70s -- was an important one for the newspaper. \n"Every day, the students were trying to have an objective paper," she said. \nAfter every demonstration, they would discuss the issues in depth to cover the events as fairly as possible, she said.\n"I think the history of IU during the student activism of the Vietnam War would be quite different if it weren't for the IDS," Blewett said.\nIDS Interim News Adviser and Publisher Nancy Comiskey worked for the paper during the student anti-war, environmental- and consumer-activism period. She said the IDS had "an awful lot of commitment to covering social changes."\nComiskey said the layout of the IDS looked very similar to the current design, except that instead of "Indiana Daily Student" across the top of the paper, it said "ids" in the top left-hand corner.\nSuccess and tradition\nBlewett attributed the ongoing success of the IDS to the many publishers and journalism department deans -- including Joseph Piercy, John Stempel, Dick Gray and Jack Backer. \nStempel, who began at IU in 1969, "did a lot to make the journalism program well known in the state," Blewett said.\nBacker was the first full-time publisher, and he set the tone for the paper, she said.\n"He was really ideal for that job; he had a charisma about him," Blewett said.\nPaul Tash, who was editor of the IDS in the fall of 1975, also admired Backer's leadership.\n"(Backer) was one of the most important members of the journalism faculty even though he didn't teach a class," Tash said.\nTash, who is now the editor and president of the St. Petersburg Times, said he found a sense of home at the IDS amidst the large IU campus. He also gained valuable newspaper experience from his work at the IDS.\n"(The IDS) was a wonderful complement to the more structured lessons in journalism classes," he said. \nFormer president and chancellor Herman B Wells was an important part of the growth of the IDS. Wells visited the IDS newsroom around Christmas time and delivered the staff members gifts of candy and apples.\nHe always commented on the content of the paper to the students, which surprised and impressed them, Blewett said. \nWells continued to visit the newsroom until his health declined in the early 1990s. Still, Wells sent gifts, and a group of student publications leaders would visit him at his home, said Dave Adams, the IDS news adviser and publisher who is currently on a leave of absence, teaching at Hawaii Pacific University.\nStudents used to have to pay for the IDS, but that system was not bringing in enough money. The IDS was one of only two campuses in the country who charged a fee. Students did not want to pay for the newspaper, and the Internet was booming with free news.\nSo, in the fall of 1995, the IDS went to a free circulation.\n"We made the decision (to go to a free newspaper) for both financial reasons and to better serve the campus with a more broadly based and read newspaper," Adams said. \nThroughout the years, increasing enrollment caused the number of readers to rise. Today, the IDS prints about 17,000 to 18,000 papers Monday through Friday. During the summer, the IDS runs twice a week Monday and Thursday. Each issue has between 16-20 pages. The IDS collects about $2 million in advertising revenue every year. There are more than 200 students and 12 professional staff members that work for the IDS.\nThe IDS has received many awards through the years and continues to do so. It is often considered a leader in collegiate daily newspapers, according to the Indiana Digital Student. The IDS has won the Pacemaker award many times, including six awards in the 1990s. The Pacemaker is a prestigious award given by the Associated College Press and Newspaper Association of America. The IDS has also won many Gold Crown Awards, given by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. The creative and marketing team has received national recognition for its design. In 1998, the Indiana Digital Student won the Best of the Net contest for general excellence, design and editorial content.