Apathy Results in Staffing Troubles for 'Vane

The Weather Vane, a 67 year old EMU institution, is a student newspaper striving to represent the student voice while struggling to find enough students needed to report the changing winds of student life.

"I'll read the Weather Vane but I don't want to write for it or help with the process," was the main response past Co-Editor-in-Chief Heather Nyce received when trying to staff the student newspaper. Nyce said her biggest challenge as editor was staffing.

"Its like when you go to a restaurant and the food tastes better because you didn't have to make it, it's the same with the Weather Vane," said Nyce. The hardest position to staff during Nyce's time as editor was the staff writer job. She always had people working as page editors and copy editors. Most people were just content to read the Weather Vane and not write for it, she recounted.

Nathan Swartzentruber, sophomore, has been a staff writer for the first semester of this school year. He believes in the importance of the Weather Vane however; saying, "In theory the Weather Vane is important but in practice not as much." If the Weather Vane stopped Swartzentruber knows he would be upset but after a year or two he thinks most people wouldn't even miss it. "I honestly think newspapers everywhere are dying and the Weather Vane is part of that," says Swartzentruber.

Current Weather Vane faculty advisor, EMU alumnus, former Weather Vane staff member, and adjunct professor of communication Dick Benner has been involved with the Weather Vane at two very different points in its history.

As a student in the early 60s Benner was a staff writer for the Weather Vane in the news department as a freshman. As a news writer Dick met with and answered to the news editor who answered to the head editor of the newspaper.

During his time on the staff around 20 students were involved with the ‘Vane. It was a privilege to work on staff, according to Benner. The Weather Vane was considered one of the most prestigious student organizations on campus. To be asked to write for the ‘Vane was an honor for students and a credit to their writing ability, said Benner.

Today, as faculty advisor of the Weather Vane Benner believes with so much more for students to participate in, interest in the Weather Vane has waned. "Students today have so much to be involved in, they just can't balance it all," he said.

On the other hand Benner believes strongly in the value of a student newspaper to EMU and knows it's widely read by students and faculty. The problem is, he says, "That everyone wants [the Weather Vane] but no one wants to put the effort into it that's needed." In his mind the production of the Weather Vane is a twenty to eighty ratio, 20 percent do the work for the 80 percent to enjoy.

In a survey conducted recently through the mail, 21 random students were asked questions about the Weather Vane ranging from what they read within its pages, and its value as a student voice.

When asked how often they read the Weather Vane and given the choice between regularly, occasionally and never, around 57 percent of students polled answered that they read the ‘Vane regularly. Forty-three percent said occasionally while none of those surveyed said they never read the Weather Vane.

Two years ago with the introduction of the prioritization process to EMU the Weather Vane fell under scrutiny. Forced to defend its existence as a student program, the publication conducted a survey to determine its importance to the campus community, including staff and faculty.

While the responses were varied, many stressed the value of a student newspaper while challenging it to strive for better quality and student representation.

From those recognizing it as a student voice came these comments: "This is an absolutely essential way to allow students to say what they want to say." Another less enthusiastic student said, "I think that the weathervane could be a lot better. Almost every issue I can tell that they were scrambling for stories to fill the page. Naturally, sometimes it's better than other times, but it's not very consistent in quality."

The majority of the responses said the paper was necessary, but many called for changes. "The Weather Vane is extremely liberal to me. Certain opinion editors express only one side of an issue. The weather vane should have opinion editors from both sides of an issue." This challenge of being one-sided politically was repeated, "It seemed to me that the articles were typically slanted towards a liberal religious, political, and social orientation."

For some the very question of cutting the Weather Vane seemed unthinkable, "How could we be a university without a paper? I don't even think we should be considering not having the weathervane! The weathervane is an important place to keep open for students to express their opinions as well as learn about happenings on campus and important topics."

The Weather Vane began in 1939 with the main support coming from M.T. Brackbill, a professor at what was then Eastern Mennonite Schools. Consisting of only one page the first issue was filled with chapel talks and poetry, along with a regular column by Brackbill.

In the past there have been times when the Weather Vane was heavily censored by the administration. According to Dick Benner, during the Mumaw presidency at EMU, all the pages were read by administration and approved before they could be printed.

Today the Weather Vane is published every Thursday and distributed free of charge on campus to students through various distribution boxes and to the faculty through campus mail. The ‘Vane is also sent through the mail to paying subscribers all over the country including parents and alumni.