One of the defining characteristics of NC State’s newspapers — Technician and Nubian Message — is that they are publications that are produced by students, and only students, to serve the NC State community. That is, it’s a paper by the students, for the students (and faculty, staff and alumni).
What this model inherently implies is that the students that are producing the paper are representative, demographically, of the students for whom the paper is being produced. In an ideal world, this is what should be happening.
Unfortunately, it’s not the reality in our newsroom.
Before I continue, it is important to note that it is not wholly Technician’s fault for not having as diverse or representative an editorial board as we should have. Our staff is composed of students, and can only be as representative as the students who take enough initiative in joining our ranks.
That being said, there are always efforts that can be taken to spread recruitment initiatives as far and wide as possible. Moreover, there are ways that the image and the vision of Technician, as the primary news source for NC State, can be cultivated to be more representative and inclusive of all aspects of the student body.
As a woman of color, being a minority in a room full of people is not a new experience. At my summer internship, I was one of two people of color on staff, and the only intern who was a person (woman) of color.
At Technician, I am the only person of color and queer-identifying individual on the editorial board, and one of only six women. While none of this hinders my ability to do my job, there are instances in which not being able to have my co-workers relate with me on aspects of the minority identity can be isolating and even exhausting.
According to the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity, NC State’s student population is approximately 75 percent white, 5.5 percent black, 5 percent Asian, less than 4.5 percent Hispanic, and less than 0.5 percent Native American.
The demographics of this institution are far from representative of the demographics in the city of Raleigh, but that’s a whole different issue. The fact remains that there are a number of communities on campus that are, as yet, not represented within our staff.
Unfortunately, Technician has had a history of underrepresenting marginalized communities in our publication, both in our coverage and on our staff. Understandably, this practice has alienated the majority of those underrepresented groups, leading to a vicious cycle of inadequate coverage and fewer minority identifying students coming to work for us.
The purpose of Technician, aside from being our campus’ number one source for local news, is to act as a platform for all students, and even faculty, staff and alumni, to express themselves, their thoughts and opinions.
My hope is that starting today with the academic year’s first publication, Technician can mend the gap that has grown so deeply between our publication and minority groups and individuals on campus. It is my number one goal this year to recruit and retain students that are more representative of our student body.
The first step toward thorough representation in terms of content is to have the staff creating and producing that content to be as representative of the student body as possible. Thus, I hope that minority students reading this will take this as a call to action to help us better represent the entire student body. We want all voices heard, and that means yours too.