The Miscellany News

The November 4, 2010, front page of The Miscellany News
School Vassar College Slogan "Vassar College's newspaper of record since 1866" Nickname(s) The Miscellany
Type	Weekly newspaper
Editor(s)	Molly Turpin
Location	College Center 303
Founded	1866
Original name	Vassariana
Frequency	Weekly
Mailing address	The Miscellany News Vassar College Box 149 Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
Website: miscellanynews.com blogs.miscellanynews.com

The Miscellany News, one of the oldest collegiate weeklies in the country, has been the student newspaper of Vassar College since 1866. A two-time winner of the coveted Pacemaker Award given by the Columbia University School of Journalism, the Miscellany strives for thorough reporting, creative thinking, exemplary writing and the highest levels of journalistic excellence. The paper is distributed every Thursday morning during Vassar's academic year to locations across the College's campus, including dormitories, dining and athletic facilities, communal areas, as well as off-campus locations in the Town Of Poughkeepsie. The paper welcomes contributions from all members of the College community—students, administrators, faculty, staff, alumnae/i and trustees—and has a regular staff of roughly 40 to 50 dedicated student editors, reporters, photojournalists, multimedia correspondents and designers. In addition to its print publication, the staff also publishes articles, videos, photoessays and podcasts daily on its Web site and its five blogs.

History

The Miscellany News was first published under the name Vassariana on June 27, 1866.^[1] The four-page long issue was meant to be a retrospective of the College's first year, more of a yearbook than the student newspaper which it would become. "Now we lay down the editorial pen," read the conclusion of the paper's first editorial, "believing it will be taken up by those who will carry on the work we have begun; who, although the foundations are of a rough stone, will build above with polished marble, and who will maintain the Vassariana in the front ranks of the college papers in the land."^[2]

The paper—one of the first student organizations at Vassar—did indeed grow to be the publication for which the charter editors had hoped. By 1872, the paper was renamed the Vassar Miscellany, as it was originally meant to be a mix—or miscellanea—of reporting, essays and poems. Though in its first years the paper published mostly the latter two genres, by the 1890s— with further funding for student organizations from new President of the College James Monroe Taylor—the Miscellany adjusted its focus to journalism. The paper made this transition complete on February 6, 1914, with the historic publication of its first issue as a weekly paper.

The Modern Miscellany

Overview

Today, The Miscellany News continues in the tradition started by the editors of 1914, publishing every Thursday morning of Vassar's academic year. The paper is typically 20 pages long each week and consists of five sections—News, Features, Opinions, Arts and Sports—which each contain innovative and professionally reported pieces concerning issues of interest on and off campus. The paper's staff consists entirely of Vassar students. Though roughly 40 undergraduates contribute to each issue of the Miscellany, Editorial Board members work most closely with the paper, developing story ideas, assigning articles and helping to shape the finished product; in addition to directing the daily operations of the paper, the Editor in Chief and his or her Executive Board work to guide the overall direction of the news organization.^[3]

Online

Just two years after it had gotten its first e-mail address, The Miscellany News went online in 1996. Today—after establishing its own domain independent from the Vassar College Web site in the summer of 2008—the Miscellany updates its site daily with online articles, photoessays, videos and podcasts. In the fall of 2009, making further strides in the burgeoning world of online media, the paper announced the launch of five blogs, which would compliment its regular online and print content. Among others, the From the Newsroom blog offers updates on and analyses of breaking campus news, while its Exposure blog features works of student photojournalism in the form of photoessays. While the print publication has a regular circulation of 3,000 copies, the Web site receives over 14,000 page impressions each week.

Noted Alumnae/i

Many professional journalists, writers and politicians—some of which are listed below—got their start at The Miscellany News.

• Edna St. Vincent Millay '17, American lyrical poet and playwright, first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
• Elizabeth Bishop '33, American poet and writer, was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950 and a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1956
• Mary Therese McCarthy '33, American author, critic and political activist
• Elizabeth Sporkin '78, Executive Editor of People Magazine
• Rick Lazio '80, former U.S. Representative (R) from the State of New York and former Republican nominee for U.S. Senate and candidate for Governor of New York
• Matthew Kauffman '83, Pulitzer Prize finalist for his work at The Hartford Courant
• Neil Strauss '91, American author and journalist, best known for his best-selling work The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
• David Gallagher '91, Deputy Technology Editor at The New York Times
• Alexandra Berzon '01, won the Pulitzer Prize for her work with the Las Vegas Sun and currently works at The Wall Street Journal

Notes

1. ^ Covering the Campus: A History of The Miscellany News at Vassar College
2. ^ "The Vassariana", June, 1866
3. ^ About The Miscellany News

External links

• The Miscellany News Web site
• The Miscellany News Blogs
• Brian Farkas, "Covering the Campus: A History of The Miscellany News at Vassar College"
• Vassar Encyclopedia's History of The Miscellany News
• Vassar Home Page