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Fighting for the values of honesty, fairness and the free pursuit of truth
in journalism, at North Central University and beyond

University president speaks at emergency staff meeting

Noon meeting establishes loose staff hierarchy along with content stipulations

Tuesday's emergency all-staff meeting saw the surprise attendance of North Central president Gordon Anderson, who spoke to students and assisted three other school officials in implementing sweeping changes to the staff. According to multiple sources affiliated with the newspaper, Anderson's presence marked the first time in at least four years he has attended a Northern Light-related meeting.

Other officials at the noon meeting included Vice President of Academic Affairs Tom Burkman, Communications Department Chair Leslie Crabtree and Northern Light adviser and journalism professor Reuben David.

The meeting addressed issues of staff hierarchy as well as the newspaper's content, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. The source asked to remain anonymous since school officials told all who attended the meeting that they were not allowed to tell anyone else what transpired.

Variety Editor Jodi Krause was named interim editor-in-chief, despite formerly standing behind the editorial staff's decision not to publish. Another staff member was asked to serve informally as her assistant. The source was unsure of the person's identity.

Remaining concerns with staff hierarchy were not dealt with, according to the source. No one was chosen to replace Krause as variety editor, nor was anyone assigned to assume the roles of former News Editor Chuck Bahr, Opinion Editor David Kingsbury, Sports Editor Sarah Abbott or Photography Editor Andre Triplett. The latter four have either been dismissed or have stated they will not work under administration's censorship demands.

Instead, the rest of the new staff will "help each other out as needed" to fulfill the remaining roles, the source said.

Nlnews.org suspects administration's tactics toward the three remaining protesting editors may have changed due to media exposure of the situation. Administration might not force the editors to step down, but may attempt to allow them to remain on staff without requiring them to perform any duties in hopes of avoiding the potential negative publicity more dismissals could raise.

The source also said university officials instructed the student staff on what kinds of stories they could cover as well as how they should lay out the front page. Staff members will be allowed to run an article on Soulforce's protest of the school April 17, but they will not be allowed to make it the main story on the front page. Instead, officials instructed the students to place an article on a new sister school arrangement at the top of page 1.

According to the former news editor, the sister school article was the least newsworthy of any article in the news section and was under consideration to be cut altogether due to lack of space.

Content that would be included in the opinion section was also discussed at the meeting, the source said. In addition, school officials said they will continue with their policy of requiring David and Crabtree to preread and edit the entire paper before printing to make sure (as stipulated to the editorial staff last week) nothing that "casts North Central in a negative light" is included.

Anderson also spoke to the students about the two staff members who were dismissed, according to the source. The source did not have time to elaborate on what was said, but did state that Anderson "misrepresented the interaction between former editors and administration."

An unconfirmed report from another student stated that Anderson also addressed the issue in a recent chapel service. According to the report, Anderson said the two top editors had stepped down. In fact, they were forcibly removed from their positions by administration with little warning and no opportunity to negotiate outside of violating their moral convictions, according to the two editors. Former News Editor Chuck Bahr was given five hours notice over e-mail by Crabtree that he must attend a mandatory noon meeting Thursday, April 6. At the meeting, he was informed of his dismissal.

According to the source, the restructured staff plans to come out with another issue April 25 as originally scheduled by former editors. The new staff will partly re-use articles written for the April 4 edition that was never published.