The Daily Campus
Encyclopedia
The Daily Campus, founded in 1896, is a student-run newspaper at the University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...

 that has a circulation run of 8,000 copies weekdays during the school year and twice during the summer. The Daily Campus has the largest circulation of any college paper in Connecticut and the third-largest in New England, behind The Daily Collegian (UMass) and The Harvard Crimson (Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

). Since its creation, the newspaper has undergone several name changes, starting as The Lookout, a monthly, when it published its first issue in May 1896. The name was changed to The Connecticut Campus in 1915, followed by The Connecticut Daily Campus, and then finally just The Daily Campus in 1984. It began publishing five days a week during the academic year in 1952 and became a morning paper in 1955.

The newspaper's offices are located at The Daily Campus Building at 11 Dog Lane in Storrs, Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
Storrs is a census-designated place and part of the town of Mansfield, Connecticut located in eastern Tolland County. The population was 10,996 at the 2000 census...

. The paper was previously located across campus at 121 North Eagleville Road, but moved to their Dog Lane location in 1990. The building is located at the South entrance to campus, across the street from the Fine Arts Building, behind the Publications Building (which The Daily Campus has no relation to) and adjacent to Buckley Residence Hall. The two-story building houses the business staff and front-desk on the bottom floor and newsroom and board room on the second. The building's little-used basement houses the morgue, where the paper's archives are kept. The Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor and Associate Managing Editor have offices on the second floor, while the Business Manager's office is located on the first. This was done to separate the departments as much as possible.

The newspaper features four main sections: News, Commentary, Focus and Sports. Each section has its own department run by an editor and associate editor. There is also a Photography department, which provides student-shot pictures for every section. The staff and event photographers are managed by both a photo editor and associate editor.

All students are encouraged to join the staff, whether they are journalism majors or not.

The newspaper is an affiliate of UWIRE, which distributes and promotes its content to their network.

News

The News Department's staff actively scouts the campus for the latest news. The department is usually the largest of the paper, though that obviously depends on student turnout. As is the case with most departments, a weekly meeting is held between the News Editor, Associate News Editor and writers. It is during these meetings that story ideas are discussed, planned and assigned. Any new writers are invited to join at these meetings. Most issues have multiple student written articles supplemented by wire reports.

Layout of the News section is done on a nightly basis by a rotating number of page designers. The News designer is responsible for laying out the pages of the section, and four copy editors (two in the afternoon and two at night) are responsible for editing the stories and preparing them for publication. Once a page is complete, it is printed out and edited by the copy editors again, and then is looked at by the Managing Editor and/or the Associate Managing Editor. Each of the section editors (excluding Commentary and Photography) take one night a week to design their section, and the Associate Managing Editor often designs the Commentary section.

In December 2005, when controversial conservative commentator Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...

 visited UConn at the invitation of the College Republicans, The Daily Campus received the only one-on-one interview with Coulter and was the only outlet with pictures from inside the theater. All other media outlets were not allowed inside. The speech itself was marked by protests on campus, alternative "hate free" events and was cut short after about 15 minutes when a prank recording of "Kyle's Mom Is A Big Fat Bitch" from the TV show South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...

 was played over the loudspeakers.

Commentary

The Commentary section, which features columnists as well as the Letters to the Editor, is the home of the very popular Instant Daily, one of the more revolutionary pieces of interaction in all of print media where readers, usually students, interact with the department by AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...

. The Commentary section is always located on page 4 of the first section of the paper. While it is only one page long most days, it sometimes takes up two pages depending on the amount of content.

Commentary features a selection of weekly columnists, usually three or four, who have written for the paper for a few years. Each weekly columnist writes one featured column a week. The Commentary Editor and Associate Editor often write a featured column weekly as well. Also published in the section are columns by staff columnists, who write on a semi-regular basis. All manner of topics are discussed in Commentary, both local and national.

Commentary also publishes a short daily editorial that is considered the official opinion of The Daily Campus. It has been featured on the left side of page 4 in recent years. The Daily Campus editorial board, composed of the Commentary editors, weekly columnists and Editor-in-Chief, meet weekly in order to determine the editorials for the coming week. A disclaimer was added below the editorial in 2003 following an incident in which 9,000 copies of the paper were stolen after a controversial column was published in Commentary (see Controversies below). The disclaimer states that only the editorial is the official opinion of the paper, while the columns are the opinions of the columnist and columnist alone.

The Commentary Section also has additional features:

Instant Daily was started in 2003 by then Commentary Editor Dan Maxwell. Instant Daily receives hundreds of instant messages per day with a select few (about a half-dozen) being chosen for publication by the editors. Most submissions are comical observations of campus life, though tributes (such as ones following the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting), remembrances (often following student deaths) and topical issues are also discussed. Instant Daily has received criticism for being an anonymous forum where students can make hurtful comments without fear of repercussions.

Husky Talk is a sidebar which features a question that is answered by a handful of students on campus. The respondents' pictures are taken and published next to their answers. Questions run the gamut from serious to sarcastic to relatively inane, and the answers run the same spectrum.

Other features include a Quick Wit (a humorous quote-of-the-day) and an editorial cartoon. Various features including a This Day in History element were once included in Commentary but have either been moved to other parts of the paper or removed altogether.

Comics

All the comics in The Daily Campus' Comics section are drawn by student artists. Some of the more popular comics in recent years have included Murdock's Resolve, Spencer, Stickcat, Phil, Lucid TV, Super Glitch and Panda.
The section also runs a daily crossword puzzle, horoscopes and a sudoku.
Comics run one page long, usually on page 5 across from the Commentary section. It is not a part of Commentary or the News department, however, and is run by an entirely separate editor.

Focus

The Focus Department covers performances, entertainment and style on campus. It regularly features reviews of on campus events, such as concerts, plays and guest lectures. The Focus Department is credentialed for all on-campus events, including performances at von der Mehden Recital Hall and Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. It also covers the annual Spring Weekend concert, held at Gampel Pavilion, and has featured artists such as Flo Rida
Flo Rida
Tramar Dillard , better known by his stage name Flo Rida , is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He released his debut album, Mail on Sunday, in March 2008. His debut single "Low", featuring T-Pain, was a #1 hit for ten weeks in United States in early 2008. Two other singles resulted from...

 and T-Pain
T-Pain
Faheem Rasheed Najm , better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor, currently signed to Young Money Entertainment. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second studio album Epiphany,...

 in 2008, Dashboard Confessional
Dashboard Confessional
Dashboard Confessional is an American rock band from Boca Raton, Florida, led by singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba. The name of the band is derived from the song "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" from the debut album The Swiss Army Romance....

 in 2007 and others including Busta Rhymes
Busta Rhymes
Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr., better known by his stage name Busta Rhymes ,Smith is an American rapper, producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the alias Busta Rhymes after NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes...

, Guster
Guster
Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 1991, the group is known for its live performances and humor, founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel came about to begin practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford,...

, O.A.R.
O.A.R.
O.A.R. is an American rock band composed of Marc Roberge , Chris Culos , Richard On , Benj Gershman , and Jerry DePizzo...

, 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...

 and Nas
Nas
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...

 in recent years. It also regularly features album, movie and video game reviews. Focus regularly includes features about matters of interest to students such as sexual health, relationships, alcohol, etc. Focus also features an events calendar which runs on Fridays with previews of events going on throughout the day, weekend and following Monday.

Focus is on the front of the second section of The Daily Campus. It shares the same section as Sports, which starts on the back page. The first three pages of Focus are almost always in full color. In recent years Focus has included in its masthead elements such as an album and movie of the day or historical highlights such as birthdays and notable events in entertainment.

Sports

The Sports Department, which staffs approximately 20 writers, is credentialed to all on-campus and several off-campus UConn sporting events. With the emergence of UConn as a powerhouse in the world of collegiate sports, the Sports section has taken off in popularity in recent decades.

The Sports Department covers as many sports as its staffing level allows. It always covers men's basketball, woman's basketball and football. It also has regular beat writers for men's and women's soccer, field hockey, men's and women's ice hockey, lacrosse, baseball, softball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track/cross country, men's and women's swimming & diving, golf, rowing and club sports. When staff allows, many sports will have two beat writers. Basketball and football always have multiple beat writers.

The budget for the Sports Department is the highest of any of the sections. This allows beat writers to travel to important away games and tournaments, especially for the larger sports such as basketball and football. Writers have covered the men's and woman's basketball teams throughout the NCAA tournament, from Washington D.C. to San Antonio; Tampa, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; Phoenix and Fresno, Calif. Beat writers reported on location at all 10 of UConn's basketball titles - men's (1999, 2004 and 2011) and women's (1995, 2000, 2002-2004, 2009-2010). A writer also traveled to the Maui Invitational in 2005, which UConn won. Two beat writers were sent to Detroit for UConn's first bowl game in football, the 2004 Motor City Bowl, as well as UConn's bowl appearance in the 2007 Meineke Car Care Bowl. Following the UConn football team's Big East championship in 2010, three reporters were sent to Glendale, Ariz. to report on the school's first BCS bowl appearance in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, in which UConn was defeated by heavily favored Oklahoma. The Daily Campus published a special extra for the Motor City Bowl victory over Toledo, as well as the Maui Invitational title. Recently, The Daily Campus has published numerous commemorative jackets, including one published on the anniversary of Jasper Howard's death, one previewing the UConn football team's critical game against South Florida that clinched the Big East championship, one previewing the outdoor hockey game played at Rentschler Field and several throughout the men's basketball team's run to the Big East and National Championship in 2011.

While mainstream sports success is a thing of recent vintage, The Daily Campus has covered sports since almost the very beginning, back when the paper was still referred to as The Lookout. In the December 1900 issue of The Lookout, an editorial ran stating "It is in the opinion of the students that basket ball could be introduced into our college sports." Basketball was indeed started at the school in 1901 and The Lookout covered the first game, writing "It may be justly said that the first attempt at C.A.C. [Connecticut Agricultural College, as UConn was then known] at basket-ball was a success." The Lookout reported again, a year later, when the first woman's basketball game was played - "The college girls started in with a vigor amazing to behold, and soon Miss Koons soon made a pretty throw into the basket from the field."[1]

The Daily Campus Sports Department was involved in two national stories during the 2002-2003 school year. The first, in November 2002, occurred when sports columnist Matt Burke wrote a column titled "Memorial's goalposts must go." The UConn football team was closing out their season with a game against Kent State and with a new, off campus, stadium opening next year Burke wrote "...I am imploring you, the student population, to tear down those goalposts at the conclusion of Saturday's football game, win or lose." UConn won the game, and when hundreds of students spilled on the field to take down the posts, police with attack dogs had encircled the goalposts. Students rushing the posts were pepper sprayed and beset by dogs. The one student to make it to the posts was handcuffed and taken into police custody. The violent incident made national headlines, and Burke's column, whether the impetus or not, was featured prominently, on shows such as ESPN's Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels, TSN, ESPN America, XM, and Sirius satellite radio services, and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories...

.

The following spring The Daily Campus again made national headlines. The UConn women's basketball team had set a collegiate record for 70 straight victories before losing to Villanova on March 11, 2003 in the Big East championship. In the postgame press conference, a reporter from a New Jersey paper began by asking UConn head coach Geno Auriemma
Geno Auriemma
Luigi "Geno" Auriemma is the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team, which he has led to seven National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I national championships...

 what he would do to make sure the loss did not linger through the NCAA tournament. After Auriemma answered the somewhat-blasphemous question with an equal amount of sarcasm, The Daily Campus beat writer Amanda Alnutt asked a similar follow-up question.

Alnutt: What are you going to do to make sure that it doesn't happen [again]?

Auriemma: You ask a lot of questions that really piss me off. You're too young to ask those questions. Older guys can ask me questions that piss me off. You're too young. You see, this is just a f---ing game. It's not the end of the world. But every question you ask is like, 'We should cancel the season now because we lost.' Relax.

Alnutt: You don't think you need to do anything to prepare your team for that? They just lost and now they have to go into the NCAA tournament?

Auriemma: So what does every game have to do with the rest? We lost a game today. We just won 70 straight. Did that have anything to do with this one?

The clip was replayed on ESPN's SportsCenter
SportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...

 repeatedly in the days following and was featured prominently, on shows such as ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. Auriemma received plenty of criticism for his handling of the situation. Auriemma would later meet with Alnutt personally and apologize and also wrote about the incident in his autobiography, remarking that he wished he had spoken to her privately instead of chastising her in front of the press.

Extras and More

The paper also regularly publishes special extras - usually tabloid-style inserts of approximately eight to 12 pages. Focus Extras (called 'Out of Focus') are often published in accordance with the seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring), but the most common extras are put out by the Sports Department. An annual Homecoming Football Extra is published prior to the team's homecoming game, while Basketball Extras are published for major rivalry games. Husky Hoopla, an annual basketball issue, is published around Midnight Madness every year and highlights the upcoming season for both men's and woman's basketball. The paper has also published special jackets (covering the entire paper) following basketball national championships - including full-color jackets on the consecutive days of April 6 & April 7, 2004 following UConn's unprecedented sweep of the men's and woman's titles. Recently, the paper has published numerous jackets previewing or commemorating major events. Notable among these was a commemorative jacket published on the first anniversary of Jasper Howard's death and a jacket previewing the UConn football team's critical season finale against South Florida, a game that UConn would win on a late field goal to clinch the school's second Big East championship and first ever BCS Bowl berth.

Students lay out the newspaper every Sunday through Thursday night using the program Adobe InDesign and can take anywhere from four to eight hours nightly to lay out the 14-18 pages of each issue.

The newspaper itself has been in the news often in recent years, with an editorial column calling for the resignation of UConn President Philip E. Austin
Philip E. Austin
Philip E. Austin was the thirteenth President of the University of Connecticut from October 1, 1996 to September 2007, and returned to serve as Interim President in May 2010 following the departure of Michael J. Hogan...

 in 2005 after construction problems arose in the building of various on-campus structures as part of the state of Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

's UCONN 2000 and 21st Century UConn projects. The building was also the site of the theft of computer equipment in August 2005, just days before the beginning of publication for the new school year.

Controversies

The Daily Campus has been involved in a number of controversies over the years.
  • 1960 -- Editor-in-Chief Dick McGuirk is expelled from the University of Connecticut shortly after refusing to apologize for material published in The Daily Scampus, a yearly satirical issue, which had been deemed salacious by Undergraduate Student Government and university officials.
  • 2000 -- Controversial David Horowitz
    David Horowitz
    David Joel Horowitz is an American conservative writer and policy advocate. Horowitz was raised by parents who were both members of the American Communist Party. Between 1956 and 1975, Horowitz was an outspoken adherent of the New Left before rejecting Marxism completely...

     full-page advertisement calling slave reparations "racist" runs in The Daily Campus and a number of other college newspapers. Students hold a protest outside the newspaper's offices, and argue to the university administration that they oppose having the $14 mandatory fee to fund the newspaper.
  • 2003 -- About 9,000 copies of The Daily Campus are stolen from locations around campus and the newspaper's loading dock one day after a column written by weekly columnist Josh Levinson was printed that criticized college cultural centers as being exclusionary.[3] Two of the suspects were identified thanks to security camera footage in UConn's Co-op, but The Daily Campus did not press charges.[2]
  • 2005 -- The Daily Campus building is broken into and equipment, including flat-screen monitors, a server and digital cameras, worth approximately $30,000 is stolen. No arrests were ever made.

Notable alumni

  • Marvel Comics
    Marvel Comics
    Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

    , Activision
    Activision
    Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...

    • Evan Skolnick
      Evan Skolnick
      Evan Skolnick is an American writer, editor and producer who has created content in a wide variety of media including newspapers, magazines, comic books, books, websites, CD-ROMs, computer games and video games. He is probably best known as a former Marvel Comics editor and writer due to his...

      , Cartoonist 1987-1988
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