The Mac Weekly
The Mac Weekly is the independent, student-run newspaper at Macalester College. It publishes every Friday in print (1,600 circulation) and online. Breaking news appears on the Web site as it happens.
I started writing for the Weekly in my first year at Macalester. I came on staff as associate news editor fall of my sophomore year, was news editor the following semester, and executive editor my junior year. Senior year, I served as a managing editor, with a focus on investigative and special project reporting.
My service at the Weekly has been unpaid, with the exception of my time as executive editor (which comes with a stipend and a weekly workload of about 40 hours). Time commitment in the news and managing editing positions averages between 20 and 30 hours per week.
I started writing for the Weekly in my first year at Macalester. I came on staff as associate news editor fall of my sophomore year, was news editor the following semester, and executive editor my junior year. Senior year, I served as a managing editor, with a focus on investigative and special project reporting.
My service at the Weekly has been unpaid, with the exception of my time as executive editor (which comes with a stipend and a weekly workload of about 40 hours). Time commitment in the news and managing editing positions averages between 20 and 30 hours per week.
Highlights of my work
In my time on the paper I have written news, sports, features and opinion pieces on a wide range of topics.
Some of my best experiences have come in writing the more in-depth articles that get behind an issue. I have written extensively on the finances of the college and paying for higher education, and campus construction and renewal. In each piece I have tried to include information and context that is frequently absent at a paper which, by the nature of its student reporters, has little institutional memory.
During my time as executive editor, I instituted changes in the content and presentation of the paper. My tenure featured increased sports coverage and more integration in reporting and presentation between the news and features sections. My time leading the paper was a busy and exciting one, with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, a visit by Michelle Obama, the presidential election, the onset of the financial crisis and the public launch of the most ambitious fund raising effort in the college's history. I oversaw an increase in circulation and changed our distribution strategy to include local businesses for the first time.
Some of my best experiences have come in writing the more in-depth articles that get behind an issue. I have written extensively on the finances of the college and paying for higher education, and campus construction and renewal. In each piece I have tried to include information and context that is frequently absent at a paper which, by the nature of its student reporters, has little institutional memory.
During my time as executive editor, I instituted changes in the content and presentation of the paper. My tenure featured increased sports coverage and more integration in reporting and presentation between the news and features sections. My time leading the paper was a busy and exciting one, with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, a visit by Michelle Obama, the presidential election, the onset of the financial crisis and the public launch of the most ambitious fund raising effort in the college's history. I oversaw an increase in circulation and changed our distribution strategy to include local businesses for the first time.
Selected Clips
News
| President Review |
A review of the tenure of Macalester's president upon his passing his predecessor for longevity at the college. I spent three weeks interviewing more than 30 sources, the most thoroughly reported piece I've written and one of the most detailed to ever appear in the Mac Weekly.
| Endowment Plummets |
An overview of Macalester's struggles a couple months into the financial crisis, with emphasis on what it means for students and the future of the college. I followed up on this one in equal detail a year later.
| Professor Discrimination Charge |
I got tips like this (a discrimination charge filed by a professor against the college) after years of building trust with sources on campus. A delicate story to report and write on such a small campus and with serious legal issues involved.
| Endowment, One Year Later |
A report following up on Macalester's financial situation a year after the stock market dive began, again focusing on the short and long-term impacts on student services and financial aid.
| Mac Climbs Ranks in Sustainability, Endowment Transparency Lags |
Macalester's campaign to build an environmentally friendly campus was endorsed by a popular national sustainability report, but the college continued to fare poorly in endowment sustainability.
Features
| New Structures, Same Feel |
Lengthy piece for the Mac Weekly magazine in fall 2007 about a period of unprecedented construction and renovation across campus.
| Canoe Trip Turns Dangerous |
Feature on a group of students on a canoe trip who found themselves trapped in a 100-year flood on a river in Arkansas.
Sports
| Soccer Overtime Playoff Win |
Wrote this one on deadline after Macalester beat nationally ranked St. Olaf, sending the team to the conference championship game. Had not planned to cover the game for the paper and volunteered when I found out we didn't have a reporter present. Afterward I found that I had accidentally become the beat writer for men's soccer for the last few weeks of the season.
| Men Lose in Second Round of NCAAs |
Recap of the NCAA playoff loss that ended the Scots' soccer season, with interviews and details on a couple seniors.
| Scots Find Success in Front of Two Keepers |
Feature on the team's game-for-game keeper rotation, an unusual occurrence in collegiate soccer.