The Stuyvesant Spectator
Encyclopedia
The Stuyvesant Spectator, also known as The Spectator, is a high school newspaper published every other week by students of Stuyvesant High School
. It contains 12 departments: news, features, opinions, arts & entertainment, humor, sports, photography, art, layout, copy, business, and web.
The paper, founded in 1915, is one of Stuyvesant's oldest publications. It has a long-standing connection with its older namesake, Columbia University's Columbia Daily Spectator
, and it has been recognized by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism's
Columbia Scholastic Press Association
on several occasions. The Spectator's original reporting has been cited by The New York Times and the Associated Press
.
The Spectator is not-for-profit and financially independent from the school, but remains a prime news source for students, teachers, and administrators. The Spectator distributes 3,000 copies to the Stuyvesant community and surrounding neighborhoods free of charge.
The paper won Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal and First Place awards throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1960, a Daily Mirror article charged that the principal censored several Spectator stories and revoked graduation awards for editors. The paper interviewed past President Harry Truman in 1957 and the Freedom Riders in 1962. A controversy ensued in the early 1960s when teachers disallowed the publication of an article about the firing of a teacher who had refused to participate in nuclear air-raid drills. In the 1970s, The Spectator supported anti-Vietnam demonstrations.
On April 9, the day before spring break, the assistant principal of technology changed the locks and all the computer passwords in the paper’s windowless office. Principal Jinx Cozzi Perullo shut down the Spectator after mounting tensions between faculty, administration, and students. The New York Times reported that there were months of infighting between the editors themselves and their faculty advisor. The disputes were “inflamed by a handful of articles criticizing the conduct of individual teachers and the policies of the city teachers' union.”
Some students believe that the paper was shut down to appease angry faculty members and censor further editorials on UFT politics, teacher hiring practices, and faculty conduct. The day after the April Fools issue, leaders of the teachers’ union complained about being bashed by the newspaper in a meeting with Principal Perullo. Perullo believed in students’ rights to write about things that involve their lives, including teachers, but wanted the Spectator to have a written set of guidelines. The Spectator staff drew up a charter with help from Columbia University
’s School of Journalism. The charter defines the procedures for selecting the editor-in-chief and the roles of the editorial board, the managing board, and the faculty advisor.
Publication resumed on May 5, 1998 following a petition opposing the suspension said to be signed by half the school's students.
Foundation, met with Principal Stanley Teitel and the editors of The Spectator at Stuyvesant High School
. He “had a vision that one day, one day, high school newspapers across the country, in both wealthy and poor districts, would be able to publish stories and pictures daily on the Internet.” A team of Spectator editors, veteran journalists, and web journalism specialists worked together to create The Spectator Online, originally published alternatively every other week between versions of the print paper.
With the help of Steven Knowlton, an associate professor of journalism at Hofstra University
, and Karen Freeman, a Circuits editor for The New York Times and a former associate professor of journalism at Pennsylvania State University, The Spectator Online was launched in October 1999. The team also created a how-to website, with an online manual and free software, published by the Times. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/weblines/111.html A journalism class was created by the Stuyvesant administration with funding from the New York Times. The Web site has won several CSPA Gold Circle Awards for Online Media.
On October 2, 2001, the school paper, The Spectator, under Editor in Chief Jeff Orlowski and Faculty Advisor Holly Ojalvo, created a special 24-page full-color 9/11 insert containing student photos, reflections and stories. On November 20, 2001, the magazine was distributed for free in 830,000 copies of The New York Times
to the entire New York Greater Metropolitan Area.
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
. It contains 12 departments: news, features, opinions, arts & entertainment, humor, sports, photography, art, layout, copy, business, and web.
The paper, founded in 1915, is one of Stuyvesant's oldest publications. It has a long-standing connection with its older namesake, Columbia University's Columbia Daily Spectator
Columbia Daily Spectator
Columbia Daily Spectator is the daily student newspaper of Columbia University. It is published at 112th and Broadway in New York, New York. Founded in 1877, it is the oldest continuously operating college news daily in the nation after The Harvard Crimson, and has been legally independent of the...
, and it has been recognized by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism's
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
Columbia Scholastic Press Association
Columbia Scholastic Press Association
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association is an international student press association, founded in 1925, whose goal is to unite student journalists and faculty advisers at schools and colleges through educational conferences, idea exchanges, textbooks, critiques and award programs...
on several occasions. The Spectator's original reporting has been cited by The New York Times and the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
.
Organization
Departments are headed by two or three editors, all of whom encompass the editorial board of the paper. The editorial board meets daily in the Spectator journalism class and is headed by the Editor in Chief and Managing Editor. At the start of their term, the Editor in Chief and Managing Editor select three or four editors to be members of the Managing Board, a group that advises the Editor in Chief and Managing Editor on matters relating to the paper.The Spectator is not-for-profit and financially independent from the school, but remains a prime news source for students, teachers, and administrators. The Spectator distributes 3,000 copies to the Stuyvesant community and surrounding neighborhoods free of charge.
Staff
There are over 250 total staff members who help to produce the bi-weekly publication. At the beginning of the fall and spring terms, there are recruitments, but interested students may join at any time.History
The Spectator has been in continuous publication since 1915. As the “crown jewel” of Stuyvesant High School publications, it was launched on February 25, 1915 under Editor Joseph E. Kasper ’15. The first issue sold for two cents. In the early 1930s, the Spectator became free of charge to all students.The paper won Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal and First Place awards throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1960, a Daily Mirror article charged that the principal censored several Spectator stories and revoked graduation awards for editors. The paper interviewed past President Harry Truman in 1957 and the Freedom Riders in 1962. A controversy ensued in the early 1960s when teachers disallowed the publication of an article about the firing of a teacher who had refused to participate in nuclear air-raid drills. In the 1970s, The Spectator supported anti-Vietnam demonstrations.
Shutdown of The Spectator
In April 1998, Editor-in-Chief Micah Lasher published a wraparound spoof edition of the Spectator called "The Defectator," which poked fun at faculty members and the college advisor. Lascher’s column called for the end of teacher employment practices based on seniority.On April 9, the day before spring break, the assistant principal of technology changed the locks and all the computer passwords in the paper’s windowless office. Principal Jinx Cozzi Perullo shut down the Spectator after mounting tensions between faculty, administration, and students. The New York Times reported that there were months of infighting between the editors themselves and their faculty advisor. The disputes were “inflamed by a handful of articles criticizing the conduct of individual teachers and the policies of the city teachers' union.”
Some students believe that the paper was shut down to appease angry faculty members and censor further editorials on UFT politics, teacher hiring practices, and faculty conduct. The day after the April Fools issue, leaders of the teachers’ union complained about being bashed by the newspaper in a meeting with Principal Perullo. Perullo believed in students’ rights to write about things that involve their lives, including teachers, but wanted the Spectator to have a written set of guidelines. The Spectator staff drew up a charter with help from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
’s School of Journalism. The charter defines the procedures for selecting the editor-in-chief and the roles of the editorial board, the managing board, and the faculty advisor.
Publication resumed on May 5, 1998 following a petition opposing the suspension said to be signed by half the school's students.
The Charter
The outgoing editor-in-chief and editorial board select the new editor-in-chief. In addition, "student journalists, in concert with a faculty adviser, will make the final content decisions for The Spectator." The charter protects the paper against interference from the administration, specifically review by all school administrators except its faculty adviser, and allows The Spectator to print important and controversial material without struggling for an administrator’s consent. It is the basis for The Spectator’s independence. The charter resulted from "a highly publicized dispute over The Spectator's plan to publish a series of critical articles about the teachers' union and certain teachers."The Spectator Online
In April 1999, Jack Rosenthal, president of the New York TimesThe New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American media company best known as the publisher of its namesake, The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. has served as Chairman of the Board since 1997. It is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City....
Foundation, met with Principal Stanley Teitel and the editors of The Spectator at Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
. He “had a vision that one day, one day, high school newspapers across the country, in both wealthy and poor districts, would be able to publish stories and pictures daily on the Internet.” A team of Spectator editors, veteran journalists, and web journalism specialists worked together to create The Spectator Online, originally published alternatively every other week between versions of the print paper.
With the help of Steven Knowlton, an associate professor of journalism at Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
, and Karen Freeman, a Circuits editor for The New York Times and a former associate professor of journalism at Pennsylvania State University, The Spectator Online was launched in October 1999. The team also created a how-to website, with an online manual and free software, published by the Times. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/weblines/111.html A journalism class was created by the Stuyvesant administration with funding from the New York Times. The Web site has won several CSPA Gold Circle Awards for Online Media.
September 11
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
to the entire New York Greater Metropolitan Area.
External links
- The Spectator | The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper
- Campus Weblines, a New York Times Learning Network special based on the Spectator Online.