Purdue Exponent

Infobox Newspaper
name =


caption = The January 20, 2006 front page of
"The Exponent"
type = Daily independent student newspaper
format = Broadsheet
foundation = 1889
owners = Purdue Student Publishing Foundation
headquarters = 460 Northwestern Avenue
West Lafayette, IN 47906
United States
editor = Andrea Thomas
publisher = Pat Kuhnle
website = http://www.purdueexponent.org/
The "Purdue Exponent" is one of a handful of daily independent student newspapers, with most other college newspapers being owned by the university or operated by the journalism school. The college newspaper serves Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. It is published on weekdays during university semesters by the Purdue Student Publishing Foundation, and is Indiana's largest collegiate daily newspaper.

The "Exponent" employs seven full-time professionals, relying for most operations on a staff of approximately 180 students, though the university has no journalism school.

History

The "Exponent"'s first edition was published on December 15, 1889. It has been a daily paper since 1906. The path to becoming an independent entity began in 1968, when the university removed William R. Smoot II as editor-in-chief. The moved followed critical and controversial columns in the newspaper, particularly one on October 23, 1968 that castigated university president Frederick L. Hovde. The university informed Smoot on Friday, Nov. 8 that he was being removed, but the sixteen editors on the staff refused to accept the dictum. On Saturday it put out a special edition with a headline, “We Will Still Publish.” By Monday, the headline was more defiant: “Smoot Will Continue: Staff”. University officials claimed that alumni and political pressure had nothing to do with the move to remove Smoot, but Thomas Graham, a Purdue trustee later said, “Not only did I get a whole bunch of letters, I’d go down to cash a check at the bank and an old friend would grab (me) by the front of the shirt and tell (me), ‘Now dammit, you know right from wrong. Now go up there and get those liberals out of that university.’ … That’s how it’s done here in southern Indiana.” The firing of the editor pushed to the fore the issue of who owned and who was responsible for oversight of the student newspaper. The issue was given to a faculty-student-administrator committee called the Exponent Review Board, but known as the Osmun Commission for its chairman, Dr. John Osmun. Ultimately the Osmun Commission decided over the opposition of administration members that while Hovde had the authority to fire Smoot, the university did not follow due process. Smoot was allowed to remain as editor-in-chief. More important in the long term, the commission recommended that the "Exponent" become a not-for-profit corporation headed by a publishing board. Its rent-free use of windowless offices in the basement of the Purdue Memorial Union would end.

Recent operations

The newspaper struggled through the first several years of organization, partly because it was capitalized only by operating revenues and partly because it was being forced to rent space from the university and to purchase printing equipment that had already been paid for. It went through a period of alternately making and losing money, though student staff was all volunteers. A critical point came in 1975 when the newspaper went to free campus-wide circulation, expanding market coverage and gaining dramatic advertising increases, according to Pat Kuhnle, current publisher. By 1988, revenues had grown substantially and the newspaper began construction on the $1.9 million, convert|22500|sqft|m2|sing=on facility that it occupies today at 460 Northwestern Ave., West Lafayette.

In early 2007, the "Exponent" received national media attention while covering the disappearance of Purdue freshman Wade Steffey. The editor in chief at the time spoke with national outlets during the newspaper's continuing coverage of the case.

The newspaper today distributes 17,500 copies daily during the school year and 8,750 during the summer. Revenues are about $2 million per year.

"Exponent" alumni in journalism

*Toni Apgar, former vice president and group publishing director for the Healthy Lifestyles Group at Primedia Enthusiast Publications. Former editor-in-chief of Vegetarian Times. Also formerly with Folio:, Direct and Fairchild Publications.
* [http://www.kathleenbarnes.com/ Kathleen Barnes] , columnist for Woman’s World magazine
*Barbara Bohusz, WMAQ TV/Chicago
* [http://knol.google.com/k/andrew-czernek/andrew-czernek# Andy Czernek] , former midwest editor, Electronic News and [http://answers.google.com/answers/ratings/users/8019321853142234612.html/ Google Answers researcher]
*Bert Gault, executive editor, Watertown Daily Times
*Kent Hannon, editor, Terry Magazine, University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business; previously at Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sports Illustrated
*E. Howard Johnson III, designer, Wilmington News Journal
*Robert C. Kriebel, professional advisor to the Exponent (1970-1985); retired editor, Lafayette Journal & Courier
*Larry Persily, Anchorage Daily News editorial page editor; former publisher The Wrangell Sentinel
*Stephanie Salter, assistant editor for opinion and commentary, Terre Haute Trib-Star; previously at San Francisco Chronicle, Sports Illustrated
*Ron Thornburg, Editor for Circulation and News, Ogden Standard-Examiner; former editor, Burlington (VT) Free Press
*Tom Walsh, business columnist, Detroit Free-Press
*Skip Wollenberg, Associated Press
*Ginger Thompson, bureau chief, NY Times, Pulitzer Prize winner.
*Ken Armstrong, Seattle Times, formerly Chicago Tribune investigative reporter.
*Julian Phillips, Emmy Award winner, currently co-host of weekend Fox & Friends, Fox TV.
*Carolyn Taylor, formerly special events coordinator, Major League Baseball.
*Earl Butz, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
*David Heckard, meteorologist, WEHT, Evansville, IN
*Carolyn Curiel, NY Times, formerly speech writer for President Clinton.
*Bill Moreau, former chief of staff to Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh.
*Jack Brennan, former reporter and editor, now online producer, Fort Lauderdale (FL) Sun-Sentinel. Now retired.
*Karl Ahlrichs, business executive and motivational speaker.
*Paul Agase, general manager, WSCR-The Score sports radio, Chicago.
*Brent Drinkut, photographer, Journal and Courier, Lafayette, IN

References

*“Purdue’s Gadfly,” thesis by Robin Rauzi, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism (Ohio University), May 27, 1994
*Purdue Exponent bound volumes

External links

* [http://www.purdueexponent.org/ Purdue Exponent]