Giving Thanks

Dear Readers,

As we prepare for the transition to our Spring 2010 staff, this marks the last issue for 11 staff members. We’ll take a week off due to the Thanksgiving holiday, and The Review will return for the final issue of this semester on Dec. 8 with the new staff in place.

We’d like to take this time to express our gratitude to the staff members who are graduating or moving on to other endeavors:

• Nicole Aizaga - photographer
• Bryan Berkowitz – entertainment editor
• Ashlee Bradbury - recruiter
• Christine Fallabel - photographer
• Allyson Heisler – entertainment editor
• Tad Kasiak – administrative news editor
• Stephanie Kraus – senior news reporter
• Michelle Trincia – multimedia editor
• Monica Trobagis – copy editor
• Joy Wedge – copy editor
• And a special thank you to Larissa Cruz, who leaves us after two-and-a-half years on staff at The Review, having served as Fashion Forward columnist, managing Mosaic editor and layout editor.

To those 11: Thank you for the time and effort you invested in The Review this semester and before. Best of luck in the future.

To our readers: Enjoy Thanksgiving break and be sure to pick up our last issue of the semester Dec. 8.


Faithfully yours,
Josh Shannon, Editor in Chief
Maddie Thomas, Executive Editor

delaware UNdressed

Dear Readers,

Over the past week, we’ve received an unprecedented amount of feedback from you about Brittany Harmon’s “delaware UNdressed” column. In last week’s column, Harmon wrote about the “crazy” things people in relationships do for their significant other.

In comments on udreview.com and in letters to the editor, many of you have criticized the column. Some of you took offense at generalizations in the column. “The author's archaic, one-sided views have offended and angered many readers,” senior Kris Garrand wrote. Others have questioned whether The Review is the right place for a sex column at all.

We read every comment and letter we receive, and when there is such an outpouring of response about a particular article, we feel that it’s our responsibility to you to respond.

The “delaware UNdressed” column was created in 2006 as part of a redesign of the newspaper. Laura Dlugatch, then a senior at the university and a veteran Review staffer, served as the column’s first author and helped shape its mission. “I didn't plan on it being a sex column,” Dlugatch told The News Journal in November 2006. “I don't even consider it now to be a sex column. It is a sex column, but it also deals with dating and relationships. It's on page 23. ... Let's face it, sex sells.”

At that time, the column was the subject of many letters to the editor and the controversy surrounding it received mentions in The News Journal and Delaware Today magazine. Some of the criticism of the column is similar to that of today, yet the column was popular among students. “We knew going in that reviews would be mixed, and they are,” then-editor in chief Dan Mesure told Delaware Today. “But most kids tell us that Undressed is the first thing they read.”

Since then, the column has always received on-and-off criticism, as would be expected with any column that deals with such a touchy subject as sex. Still, editors throughout the years, ourselves included, have recognized the value of having a sex column in a college newspaper. Let’s face it: sex is a common discussion topic (and experience) for many college students. Not for all college students – that’s an important distinction – but for many. A sex column, if done tastefully and correctly, can be an interesting, educational addition to the paper.

That said, you’ve told us loud and clear that you don’t think Harmon’s column fits that description. We’re willing to admit, with a bit of egg on our faces, that we didn’t anticipate the offense the most recent column would cause some readers or the backlash we would receive. But, we realize now, as does Harmon, that many of you were insulted by generalizations and gender stereotypes in the column. You read Harmon’s list of ways women and men cater to their significant others and thought to yourself that the list doesn’t represent you, even though the column seems to suggest that all women and men fit into those characterizations.

Now, we know that Harmon doesn’t really think that every girl wears 5-inch stilettos to attract men or that every guy pretends to enjoy watching TV with his girlfriend in hopes of receiving sexual favors. We know that Harmon has an uncanny sarcastic wit, and that she often uses over-the-top examples to prove a point. But we should have also known that some people wouldn’t interpret the column that way, or would take offense anyway.

Moving forward, we plan to keep publishing the “delaware UNdressed” column we feel there is a place in a college newspaper for a sex column. We’re also going to continue to have confidence in Brittany Harmon because her humorous, sarcastic style of writing brings an interesting perspective to the subject and because her previous columns prove she is able to use scientific studies and real-life examples to shed light on a topic.

However, we are also going to keep in mind your suggestions and criticisms, and work with Harmon to tweak the direction of the column, with the intent of making it more interesting and enlightening, beginning with this week's “delaware UNdressed,” which takes a more serious look at the responsibilities of being in a relationship. For future weeks, Harmon will get back to citing scientific research to back up her points and start talking to students about her topics again so she can bring in specific examples instead of speaking in general terms. Her columns will continue to be sarcastic and humorous, but, from time to time, she will also delve into some more serious sexual topics that many of you pointed out have been missing from “delaware UNdressed” over the past couple years.

Sometimes newspapers, no matter how good their intentions, need readers to smack them around a little bit every once in a while when they mess up. You certainly did that this week. The “delaware UNdressed” column, even after four years, continues to be a work in process as each year’s author and editors bring a different perspective to it. We’ll keep trying to get it right. And we have no doubt that you’ll keep telling us when we don’t.

Faithfully yours,

Josh Shannon, Editor in Chief

Maddie Thomas, Executive Editor

Visiting The New York Times

Dear readers,

Last week, I had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit the New York
Times newsroom in Manhattan. As part of a field trip for my Global
Media and Politics class, my classmates and I took a tour of the
newsroom and met with members of the Times’ editorial board and
a foreign affairs editor.

Few places represent journalism better than the Times’ building.
One of the most-read and most-respected news organizations in the
world, the paper is one of very few to still have foreign bureaus around
the world.

From the six-story newsroom in the 8th Avenue skyscraper, the
paper’s journalists print stories that are read in capitals around the
world. And from a 13th floor conference room, the Times’ editorial
board writes editorials that often affect policy in those very capitals.

That’s the power of journalism—it literally can change the world.
That’s why, on a much smaller scale, of course, we at The Review
spend so much time in a cramped office in Perkins Student Center
putting out the paper each week.

Many say print journalism is dying. Maybe that’s true (even though
I still have faith that there are enough people who enjoy sitting down
with a newspaper more than with a computer).But, journalism, in
whatever form, is not going anywhere.

Faithfully yours,

Josh Shannon, Editor in Chief

Stay aware by signing up for breaking news

Dear Readers,

As some of you may know we’re working all the time to provide you with the latest news around campus and the Newark community.

Even though our print edition is available to you each Tuesday, we work around the clock to update our Web site with new content and to send out breaking news updates to you as soon we can.

Over the weekend, we posted two important breaking news alerts on our Web site––the university’s purchase of the Chrysler site for $24 million, as well as the occurrence of three armed robberies that took place around campus early Saturday morning.

We encourage you to sign up for breaking news alerts on our Web site, www.udreview.com, so that you too, can be aware of the latest, most pressing news around campus. If you sign up, any breaking news will be e-mailed to you as soon as it’s posted on our Web site. For example, we made sure to send out e-mail alerts before Saturday night so that students going out would be aware of the crimes that took place the
night before.

Here at The Review, we feel like it’s our responsibility to keep our readers informed about anything that happens on campus – whether it’s taking place at the crack of dawn or the dead of night.

It’s all part of the job. Providing you with campus news is what we’re here for.

Faithfully yours,

Josh Shannon, Editor in Chief

Maddie Thomas, Executive Editor

Check out our new ReviewThis page in News

Dear readers,

This week, we’re excited to debut a new weekly feature in the News section, the ReviewThis page.

ReviewThis will be on page 4 every week and will feature a mix of short items and pictures:

• Police reports detail some of the more newsworthy items from the Newark and university police blotters.
• In Brief features short news stories of note or updates to past weeks’ stories
• For Picture of the Week, we’ll pick a photo from the past week that either tells a story about something that happened on campus or that represents a slice of campus life.
• Things To Do is a weekly calendar of events on campus. Each week, we’ll pick a diverse range of events, one per day, to feature. To submit events for our consideration, email calendar@udreview.com.
• For This Week in History, we’ll delve into The Review’s archives and pick out an interesting or noteworthy event that happened that week.

In the Sports section, as you may have noticed, managing editors Pat Maguire and Matt Waters have started a similar feature, called Chicken Scratch, that brings together UnderpReview, Hen Peckings, the sports calendar and their weekly calendar all on one page.

We hope that both ReviewThis and Chicken Scratch make the paper more interesting and make it easier to find each section’s regular features when you need a quick run-down of the week’s news and events.

Faithfully yours,
Josh Shannon, Editor in Chief
Maddie Thomas, Executive Editor

Sneak peek of what we're writing this week

Here's a sneak peek of what we're working on this week.

• Pencader closed for winter session
• New changes in the SGA
• Jaywalking update
• Engineers Without Boarders
• Dining plans for sick students
• Fall Crime Suppression Plan update

Make sure you pick up an issue next Tuesday to check all these stories out! It's free and located throughout campus and on Main Street!

And as always, let us know if you hear of any news you think we're missing.

theudreview@gmail.com

Our coverage spans decades

Dear Readers,

Over the summer, we decided it was about time to finally clean up The Review’s office above Perkins Student Center.

After we threw away countless coffee cups from Dunkin’ Donuts (relics of all-nighters from months past) and cleaned up the cluttered desktops on all of our computers, we came across a true gem – a collection of laminated pages from archives spanning as far back as 1882.

Each page, yellowed by age, but preserved for decades chronicles The Review’s presence on campus throughout recent history.

In 1944, William Kirsch, a news editor, described how it was the first time The Review had gone to press in a year and a half, presumably because of the World War II. In 1968, reporters and photographers covered the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the subsequent civil unrest that followed in Wilmington.

In 1969, The Review announced Arva Jackson’s unprecedented nomination to the university’s Board of Trustees — the first black person to ever be nominated in university history. In 1985, The Review covered a student rally against apartheid, while university officials vetoed full divestment from companies with interests in South Africa.

We’re proud of the work past editors and reporters have done, and this year is no exception. We hope to continue covering national, local and university news as much as possible. To do so, we count on the support of you, members of the university and surrounding community, to read our issues and to let us know how we’re doing and what news you want to see in the paper.

Who knows, maybe fifty or sixty years from now future editors of The Review will stumble across laminated pages of this very issue.

Faithfully yours,
Josh Shannon, Editor in Chief
Maddie Thomas, Executive Editor