INSIDE: Which alumni should be immortalized in bronze on campus? Page 6
COLUMN: Read Ernie Pyle’s tribute to Indiana University and Bloomington. Page 7
‘It’s just nice to do it again’
IDS
By Amy Wimmer Schwarb BAJ’98
The room had no wax machine, no light table, no Linotype. No blue markup pencils, no X-Acto knives, no desk that once belonged to Ernie Pyle.
But even without the traditional trappings, Room 212 of Franklin Hall — a standard IU classroom with whiteboards, a smart screen and chairs with crimson-cushioned seats — had all it needed to be a newsroom for one chilly November afternoon.
What it did have: a deadline, an editorial news budget, and a small collection of former Indiana Daily Student journalists with a passion for working across generations to produce a print edition of the newspaper that feels as much like
an alma mater to them as the University does.
“It’s just nice to do it again,” said Ryan Gunterman, BA’02, who volunteered to write and edit for the alumni edition. Gunterman was IDS editor-in-chief in summer 2002 and is now executive director of the Indiana High School Press Association. “It’s fun.”
Fun?
The afternoon and evening included discussions about the makeshift style guide the makeshift staff would follow for its single production day and stories of how staff members explained their Friday evening whereabouts to their spouses.
“Do we still write it ‘I,’ period, ‘U,’ period?” asked Susan Bonnell Burns, BA’74,
who after IU went on to build a career in journalism, advertising, corporate communications and consulting.
“No periods,” replied three of her forthe-day colleagues.
“Oh,” Burns said. Then she thought of the college newsroom adviser who had taught her the old IDS style rule for abbreviating Indiana University: “Take that, John Stempel.”
David Blumberg, BA’15, the husband of Washington Post multiplatform editor Jamie Zega, BAJ’18, texted her Friday to ask when she would be done copy-editing.
“That’s a fantastic question,” Zega said. The two had been dating while Zega was IDS editor-in-chief in fall 2017. “Welcome back to the old days.”
Alumni
7 honorees include journalists, television producer, author
By Charlie Scudder BAJ’14
The Media School at Indiana University honored seven alumni at a banquet and reception on Nov. 15 with its annual Distinguished Alumni Awards. The 2025 class included journalists, strategic communicators and an award-winning television producer. Jared Solow, BA’11, is president of the Media School Alumni Board that selects the honorees. He told the IDS alumni edition that the awards serve to celebrate alumni and set an example for current and future students of the school.
“They are a lot of distinguished professionals in telecommunication and journalism fields, from all walks of life,” Solow said. “Overall, there are just so many talented individuals that have come through these doors over the years. It’s important to honor them.”
The awards, which celebrate alumni who have had distinguished careers and majored or took significant coursework in the Media School or its predecessors, like the School of Journalism. Here are this year’s winners.
Elizabeth Bernstein, BA’87
Bernstein has covered higher education, philanthropy, psychology, and religion for The Wall Street Journal for the past 24 years. Today, she’s a columnist who writes about social psychology. She studied journalism and English at IU.
Mike Kelley, BA’89
Kelley is a television writer, producer, and creator who has produced episodes of hit shows including NBC’s “Providence,” The CW’s “One Tree Hill,” Fox’s “The OC,” and CBS’s “Jericho.” He received a telecommunications degree from IU.
Fred Kalil, BA’04
Kalil spent 31 years as a sports broadcaster in Atlanta for WXIA-TV 11Alive News. He got his start in broadcasting at WIUS and WTTV in Bloomington. Kalil walked onto the Hoosiers football team, playing two seasons for coach Lee Corso, before leaving the team to pursue his reporting career.
Lillian R. Dunlap, MME’73 (Jacobs), PhD’92
Dunlap has built her career working in diversity training for journalists, college students and more. She’s an affiliate faculty member of the Poynter Institute, and is the CEO of communication and diversity coaching firm Communication Research Enterprises. She studied speech communications at the graduate level at IU.
Holly Gooding Miller, BA’64
Miller’s career as a reporter, writer and editor has included bylines in the Anderson (Indiana) Herald, the Saturday Evening Post, Indianapolis Monthly, Reader’s Digest, Writer’s Digest, TV Guide, and Endless Vacation. She has also written textbooks about feature writing and women in the workplace.
Derek Mobley, BA’91
While studying telecommunications in Bloomington, Mobley started his long career at ESPN working for the network whenever it broadcast IU games. He has worked for the network for 34 years as a producer and director. He is currently the director of “Monday Night Football.”
Matthew Tully, BA’92 (posthumous)
Tully, a longtime reporter and columnist for the Indianapolis Star, where he was known for his coverage of state and local politics. He is a member of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. Tully died in 2018 from cancer. He was 49.
By Ryan Gunterman
Above: Charlie Scudder, BAJ’14, and Ryan Gunterman, BS’02, discuss edits to an alumni edition story.
Left: Susan Bonnell Burns, BAJ’74, recalls IDS traditions from the makeshift newsroom in Franklin Hall. Read her article on Page 2.
PHOTOS BY AMY WIMMER SCHWARB
JAMES BROSHER | BAJ’10
Tools, technology change; traditions endure
Traditions connect generations of student journalists at ‘World’s Greatest College Daily’
By Susan Bonnell Burns BAJ’74
Anytime you are considering an institution that is more than 150 years old, there are going to be some deep-seated traditions. And when the tasks and technologies can get replaced in a flash, and the people involved are semester-to-semester, what was time-honored can get quickly shoved aside. But one thing above all is a tradition among those who are honored to be in what editorial adviser Ruth Witmer calls “the IDS Tribe”— we know what we do (or did) mattered. Journalism is a calling, and we were called. Traditions at the newspaper long known as the Indiana Daily Student, include a few basics that have stood the tests of time:
• Do better than your best, either when writing, editing or assembling each day’s work.
• Be professional, even if your paycheck barely covers a burger.
• Get as many of the facts as you can, and write based on that. Don’t take sides – and most stories involve more than just two sides.
• Stand together – this work requires solid teamwork and a mutual commitment to integrity.
• Perfection is out of reach, so even the day after, seek feedback and correct mistakes.
• And, when needed, head for Nick’s.
This article began when alumni edition editors Charlie Scudder and Amy Wimmer Schwarb asked for input about “IDS traditions, past and present.” There have been huge changes over the past 50 years, and not just the shift from hot type and clattering typewriters to screens and buttons. “Mouse” back then meant you had spied one creeping around in the empty first floor of Ernie Pyle Hall while we worked, laughed, struggled, pranked, fell in and out of love and even studied in the 24-hour second floor with a newsroom at its heart.
I’m a veteran of the 196973 IDS – the first staff after one of the bigger changes in how “The World’s Greatest College Daily” structured and funded. Pressures had built to a crisis requiring a major change, and to quote the late, great IDS publisher Jack Backer, “Progress is crisis-oriented.”
From the beginning in 1867, the student newspaper had posed a dilemma for university administrators. What was published could ruffle feathers. Lawmakers, pastors, parents, faculty, fellow students then, as now, often had complaints –and aimed those complaints at chancellors and presidents, figuring that those were the folks in charge. Some years, it was solely a student enterprise, other times a club endeavor, and a few times it vanished altogether. The upsand-downs are described in the introduction by IDS alumnus Ray Boomhower, in the IU Press book “Indiana Daily Student: 150 Years of Headlines, Deadlines and Bylines” by Rachel Kipp, Scudder and Schwarb. By 1898, the paper, then owned by the IU Board of Trustees, gained solid footing. For much of the first two-thirds of the 20th Century, it often functioned as a learning laboratory for which students could get credit toward graduation. Although that program produced reporters and editors who went on to shape America’s mid-century news profession, quality was a concern. A Board of Aeons report in fall 1965, described a publication “hampered by thoughts of convenience for a
very small segment of the university community.” In 1969, the university established a new School of Journalism and set the IDS free to sink or swim without the “laboratory” label, but with full editorial freedom. Its income would be advertising revenues. The IDS would pay rent for university facilities, contract for printing, and pay its student reporters and editors. The university paid for a faculty member to be an adviser overseeing finances with advertising and business managers. The editor-in-chief for each semester was selected by the Trustees upon a recommendation by the Publications Board. The EIC was responsible for the newsroom and content. By spring of 1973, the payroll, measured by the hour, was about 20 editors and 100 reporters across all four years of undergrad and a few graduate students. From an opportunity viewpoint, student media at Indiana has a tradition of being shaped by the students who are the core of the endeavor. For the Backer-era alumni, we got to be in charge of a newspaper and apply what we were learning in the classrooms just down the hall — taking news photos from the guy who captured hate in Little Rock and writing from folks with Pulitzers. Tomorrow, students may get a chance to invent a whole new style of delivering information vital to a nation and world, using the combined power of printed words, informative data and images that move both literally and emotionally. What we covered was as lively as ever. Alumni Dale Eisman, Merv Hendricks, Linda Herman Ferries and her husband Ken Ferries, and Connie Haas Zuber recalled anti-war dissidents, student marches, and all the usual news about residence halls, faculty awards, noteworthy visitors to campus, Kent State shootings and the Watergate hearings. Unpopular editorial stances drew fire, with threats of “defunding” from Republican politicians in Indianapolis and a newsroom sit-in from student radicals that resulted in frustration for the protesters as the staff simply kept on with one reporter interviewing the interlopers.
Oddly, when asked about traditions, responses from these now-mostly retired journalists seldom recalled the day-to-day process of putting out the paper. It was more about lives shared and special years together. Some blamed the sleep-deprivation of living what was often like two-lives at once — a hectic student life to meet the rigorous J-school academic requirements plus a full-time job as core staff in the newsroom. But there was a lot of tension-relief fun and games, too:
• After-deadline sessions at Nick’s, with an occasional wee-hours breakfast at the old Waffle House for those with an appetite for steak and eggs.
• Stories that went awry; near-miss errors caught by an eagle-eyed copy editor, or Bernie in the composing room “cutting you a comma” when one fell off for lack of wax.
Newsroom practical jokes, battered furnishings, oddball fellow students, learning to swear and smoke because that’s what newsrooms are like in The Real World.
• And, above all, • Striving to do our best, to not just learn about professionalism, but to practice it in real-life terms.
The hazy memories, however, would have been no surprise to IU journalism’s most famous alumnus. As editor-in-chief Ernest T. Pyle wrote in 1922, “Nearly everyone who ever attended Indiana University will tell you there is no place in the world like Indiana. They sometimes attempt to explain that statement, but they cannot.”
IU ARCHVIES
Herman B Wells, dressed as Santa Claus, regularly visited the IDS newsroom to spread holiday-season cheer for more than 50 years.
CHARLIE SCUDDER | BAJ’14
Student editors-in-chief have long celebrated the end of their semester by signing a drawer in a desk once owned by Ernie Pyle. In recent years, visiting alumni like Mace Brodie, have joined in on the tradition.
RUTH WITMER | BA’86
Another end-of-semester tradition is when staffers take a leap into the Campus River (formerly Jordan River), like spring
2015 editor-in-chief Evan Hoopfer, BAJ’15, did after serving as managing editor for Michael Majchrowicz, BAJ’15, the previous semester.
IU ARCHIVES
Every Friday, student journalists meet for a weekly “Slash” meeting, where they celebrate and critique the work published and plan for the week ahead.
Editors-in-chief
Wimmer Schwarb, BAJ’98 Charlie Scudder, BAJ’14
Contributors: James Brosher, BAJ’10
Nicole Smith Brown, BAJ’02
Susan Bonnell Burns, BA’74
Ryan Gunterman, BS’02
Merv Hendricks, BA’72
Rachel Kipp, BAJ’02
Jenny Kustra-Quinn, BA’91
Dustin Long, BA’91
Ernie Pyle, LHD’44
Ruth Witmer, BA’86 Indiana University
Current editors bring twice the experience
By Merv Hendricks BA’72
Two heads are better than one — in the editor-in-chief’s chair.
This semester’s co-editors of the Indiana Daily Student, Marissa Meador and Jacob Spudich, are convinced of that and grateful to have each other to rely on.
“Toward the end of last semester, I was kind of at a point where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be editor or not,” Meador said in an interview Wednesday. But she and Spudich “eventually decided to [run] together.” Both say it was one of the best decisions of their college careers.
It’s worked so well that the duo is re-applying for the positions for spring semester. The student media board will decide Nov. 22. Meador is a native Hoosier, having grown up in Mooresville, a town of about 10,000 about 35 miles north of Franklin Hall. Spudich is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to the University of Michigan. But he is an Indiana transplant whose family moved to Middlebury, Indiana, population just less than 4,000 about 225 miles from the Daily Student newsroom and hard against the Michigan border.
Spudich, a journalism major, started at the IDS in fall 2021 as an opinion col-
umnist. The following spring he covered women’s water polo, then IU football in fall 2022, a season the team went 4-8 overall. In spring 2023, Spudich was sports editor; he shot photos in fall 2023 and was visuals editor in spring 2024.
Meador, a journalism and political science double major, started in spring 2022 as a news reporter, then was news editor that summer and fall.
In spring 2023 she covered Bloomington city government, where she wrote about an IU student who was a candidate for city council but listed in his election filings an address where he did not live.
In fall 2023, she was a managing editor — the staff now has four managing editors with distinct responsibilities. As managing editor, Meador’s role was editing stories.
In spring 2024, she was reporting again, covering faculty and administration. It was on that beat that she covered the sanctioning of a pro-Palestinian IU professor, the cancellation of an oncampus art show featuring Palestinian works, and faculty votes of no confidence against IU President Pamela Whitten, Provost Rahul Shrivastav and Carrie Docherty, vice provost for faculty and academic affairs.
Then came conflict in Dunn Meadow, where pro-Palestinian protesters had set
up an encampment. For days that venerable free speech space was home to ongoing protests. On April 25, a Thursday, Indiana State Police and Indiana University Police, some in riot gear, ousted protesters from the meadow. Again on April 27, police moved in.
Spudich and Meador were both in the meadow to witness arrests. They were among 13 Daily Student reporters who shared a byline on a story about the first 33 arrests.
“It was truly one of the most surreal things I’ve ever experienced,” Meador said. “You know, I’m a reporter. My job is to cover the news, but it’s also hard to not feel some emotion from that sort of scene, like just seeing, you know, armed police officers walking toward students, many of them I knew. They were in class with me.”
Over those three days, 57 protesters were arrested, booked at the county jail and trespassed from University property. Fifty-five of those charges were dropped May 31 because of a “constitutionally dubious process,” the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office said.
April 25, the day of the first arrests, was also the day editors published a blank front page in protest of its allegations that university leaders were not dealing seriously with the IDS’ threatening financial issues.
Newsroom to produce 7 papers next semester
“The Media School is an academic unit, but we’re so invested in our student experiences that we’ve had to build that into the organization chart.”
about what we do.”
According to the plan, the drop in editions will play a key role in ensuring the newly formed student media organization achieves budget neutrality within three to five years. Galen Clavio, associate dean for undergraduate education at the Media School, said the savings from less printing will not just be financial.
Clavio, who also serves on the school’s student media advisory board, said the reduction in labor hours was also taken into consideration when making this change.
“One of our big concerns, after having conversations with the IDS business office, was how little bandwidth they had to properly sell the advertising in all the print editions that they were producing,” Clavio said. “What we were trying to do was not just look at the physical or material costs of each issue, but also the labor involved in all of the things that have to be done.”
“Our ideal outcome is we’re going to track revenue and expenses, but also kind of try to take into account the person hours that are being spent on all of those elements within each issue.”
Another one of the adjustments being made in this new model is having Rodenbush report to Clavio rather than Media School Dean David Tolchinsky. Clavio said the intent of the reassignment is to better provide services and support to the IDS.
“The reason (Rodenbush is) reporting to me is because of my intimate relationship and familiarity with student media and my ability to to work in an operational capacity directly to try to provide material support and act as a conduit for what student media needs,” Clavio said. “The Media School is an academic unit, but we’re so invested
in our student experiences that we’ve had to build that into the organization chart.”
Yet in spite of the fact there are multiple changes and outcomes outlined in the new plan, it has been the minimal print runs garnering the most feedback from vested parties. IU Student Publications Alumni Association President Rachel Kipp said opinions of those within the group have varied, but all have been impassioned.
“I think everybody feels really strongly about the end of the (weekly) print edition,” she said. “There’s sort of a range of opinions about that — from people feeling very upset about it to people kind of feeling like, ‘Well, that’s media in 2024.’ But that’s also sad.”
Rodenbush said he understands why some are upset the newspaper that was once published on a daily basis has been lessened to a press run of no more than two a month. If anything, he said he would be concerned if there wasn’t at least some outcry from the audience and those within the student publications alumni group.
“It’s inherent to people who are really into student media to be very protective and fight for your organization and your place on campus,” Rodenbush said. “I want a group that’s passionate about what they’re doing and is vocal about it.”
Clavio agreed and said any resentment coming from such a drastic transformation of a beloved institution comes from a place of kindness and good intentions.
“There’s an assumption by many alums that the IDS they worked in 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago is still the environment in terms of the amount of money that’s coming in the amount of staff that are there to support,” he said. ”Realistically, the financial circumstances that the IDS is under, we have to often help over the objections of the operation itself. That’s a really hard spot to be in.”
Ultimately, Clavio said the endgame to the Media School’s efforts is to put the IDS in a position to never again be in a position of need. He said his hope is the product of the next three years is an outline for maintaining a self-sufficient, effective model for student media.
“I think there’s real possibilities to make this a sustainable thing,” Clavio
24 years after first alumni paper, grads do it again
Alumni from 10 states and Washington, D.C., produced 2000 edition.
By Rachel Kipp BAJ ’02
“What is in our memory banks?” This is the first sentence of a column that the late Marjorie Blewett, BA’48, wrote in conjunction with a reunion of a group of alumni who called themselves “The Linotype Generation.” They all worked at the Indiana Daily Student from the 1930s through the 1950s, and in June 2000, they gathered in Bloomington to socialize, reminisce — and put out a paper.
Marge Blewett was IDS editor-inchief in 1948. Her obituary describes how, as leader of the paper, she “terrorized” male veterans returning from the armed forces who “hadn’t expected a co-ed in bobby socks to be giving them such clear and firm orders.” She went on to become a reporter, editor, IU School of Journalism administrator, and the program’s longtime historian. Marge probably knew more about the history of the IDS than anyone, and I was lucky to meet and talk with her for an afternoon in 2018, while I was in town for a whirlwind research trip for the book “Indiana Daily Student: 150 Years of Headlines, Deadlines and Bylines.” In the case of Marge, the answer to the question, “What is in our memory banks?” was quite a lot, and she was generous with sharing what she knew. During the afternoon I spent with her, she told me the real story behind the now-famous picture of her reading Alfred Kinsey’s “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” at the Indiana Daily Student editor’s desk (she was asked to pose that way by the photographer and the book wasn’t open to anything juicy, just a page of statistics). If you look at the photo, you can see a row of paper dolls hanging on the wall just above Marge’s outstretched legs – she still had them, as part of her personal collection of IDS memorabilia.
said. “I can’t guarantee that. But what we’re doing now, I think, has a far better chance of success than the model that was being used up to this point.”
Kipp, a 2002 IU journalism graduate and current director of communications and marketing at the Philadelphia Bar Association, echoed that sentiment. But regardless of the next steps the school takes throughout its plan, she said transparency and communication will be vital to finding success.
She said being consistently available and open can help prevent resentment directed toward future IDS plans.
“Any communications class would tell you that you need to be transparent or there’s gonna be distrust,” Kipp said. “Just be aware that people care a lot about this, even if they’re not involved anymore. They really want to see the idea succeed.”
“Maybe that comes out as people being overly critical, or being perceived as being overly critical, but it is coming from a good place.”
And to those who are concerned this adjustment will affect the level of coverage expected from the news outlet that’s been in production for more than a century and a half, Rodenbush said there’s plenty of evidence to debunk any claims of reduced quality or lowered standards. For example, the IDS just won the Associated Collegiate Press’ multiplatform Pacemaker award recognizing the nation’s best student journalism across all methods of communication.
“These multiplatform-outlet-of-theyear awards require us to have a presence across all these different things,” Rodenbush said. “This is a thing that everyone should be learning in order to be better prepared for the professional world that’s waiting for them.”
Both Rodenbush and Clavio also confirmed the Media School’s increased involvement will not come at the expense of the staff’s editorial independence. The charter outlining these rights remains in place, and this shift in financial circumstances has no effect on press freedom.
The IDS will remain completely student controlled. Indefinitely.
“It’s not my paper,” Rodenbush said. “However (students) feel it’s best to rally it, support it, defend it — I’m 100% into that. That’s my job to be 100% into that.”
Decades later, Blewett would lead the first IDS alumni edition in 2000, produced by alumni who called themselves the “Linotype generation.”
She also had a copy of the alumni edition paper from 2000. Alumni from 10 states and Washington, D.C., had traveled to Indiana for the event, and created a multipage edition of the IDS. They named editors, a publisher, and a correspondent, and asked attendees to share their memories of their years in the newsroom. The edition contains stories of covering the beginning and the end of World War II, encounters with “Santa” Herman B Wells, and living in fear of the red pen of John Stempel, BA 1923, who led the journalism department in those years. Several of the stories refer to the IDS as the WGCD – World’s Greatest College Daily. There are also several uses of the word “Boress,” a catchall term that could mean a trick or practical joke or a spontaneous discussion, but in the issues of the IDS from that time was also used to describe social gatherings and parties.
This 2024 version of the alumni edition comes at an unusual time. The IDS is no longer a daily, and the Linotype machine was long obsolete by the time most of the alumni who put this edition together began making memories in the newsroom. Our memories include a different set of important world events, and the uncertainty that comes with working at a media organization at a time of rapid technological change. It was likely a given that the Linotype alumni edition would be in print. For us, the digital version was the given, the print an idea that we wrestled with before securing a grant from the IU Alumni Association to cover the cost of print. The staff of the Media School and IDS were also critical to securing that grant.
But the spirit of the edition is the same — recapturing a little bit of the camaraderie (the Boress?) of our time at the IDS; trying to produce a product that is interesting, relevant and fun; and reigniting some of that special rush that comes only from journalism.
CHARLIE SCUDDER | BAJ’14
Student editors-in-chief Marissa Meador and Jacob Spudich lead a weekly Slash meeting in the IU Student Building on Friday, Nov. 15.
Galen Clavio, associate dean for undergraduate education at the Media School
IU ARCHIVES
Marjorie Blewett, BA’48, rests her feet on the IDS editor’s desk while reading “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” by IU researcher Alfred Kinsey.
BUDGET from paGE 1
By
IDS
Scudder
Hoo, Hoo,
Besides Pyle and Wells, 9 IDS alumni who deserve a permanent spot on campus.
By Nicole Smith Brown BAJ’02
With three shiny new statues cropping up on campus in the last five years, it’s time to start brainstorming who’s getting the next bronze treatment (maybe 2025 or 2026?). We suggest eternalizing someone who attended this university and made a lasting contribution to our shared history, not just a donor who gave generously — like, in large enough sums that they could single-handedly pay for the next statue.
In fact, many of IU’s illustrious alums got their start by filling the pages of this very paper with weighty news under intense deadlines. With decades of IDS alumni producing award-winning journalism, there is no shortage of unsung heroes. We’ve scoured the archives to come up with nine deserving trailblazers.
Howdy Wilcox Jr., BA’42 Wilcox rolled into IUB in the fall of 1938 and spent a short time as editorin-chief of the IDS before being called to serve in World War II. He graduated with his bachelor’s in 1942, and he went on to found and lead the IU Student Foundation in 1950. But perhaps his bigger claim to fame, inspired no doubt by his famous father, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1919, was his vision for a bike race that would raise money for working students while building followers for the Foundation. The first Little 500 took off at Memorial Stadium in May 1951, and soon the tradition of “World’s Greatest College Weekend” was an annual event.
Henry C. “Sol” Meredith
One of the first co-editors of the IDS, Sol didn’t just write and edit the paper — he christened it with intellect and attitude. In February 1867, Sol boldly struck his editorial stance by shouting with gusto: “Indiana Student.” And so, after much deliberation, he gave the name to the school paper. What makes Meredith a true icon? He solemnly proclaimed the publication owed “allegiance to no faction,” and was subservient to no personal motives of exaltation, pure in tone, seeking the common good, partial and guided by a spirit of truth and justice.” Printed in three columns across four pages initially, the paper and name has grown to become a daily while carrying on the integrity Meredith envisioned.
Marjorie Smith Blewett, BA’48
A journalistic legend who wasn’t just content to write a column or two, Blewett’s 70-year legacy left a lasting impact on the journalism field and students alike. Her journey began humbly, as a high school student writer for Bloomington High’s student newspaper. When she came to IU, she immediately permeated the IDS and worked her way up to editor-inchief. After graduation, she worked for newspapers before returning to IU in 1965, where she quickly became a fixture – first as lecturer in the School of Journalism before moving to placement director where she supported aspiring journalists in securing internships and first jobs. In the early 1970s, Blewett started the School of Journalism’s alumni magazine Newswire and founded the Journalism Alumni Association. She received many awards for her work, including induction into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.
Florence Myrick Ahl, BA 1899 Ahl wasn’t just breaking news — she was breaking barriers. In 1897, she became the first female editor-in-chief of the
Hoo ... Who should have a statue?
student newspaper. After graduation, she continued to pursue outlets for women’s voices to be heard. As a leader of the Scribblers Club, she created a community for women authors and journalists to showcase their talents. Ahl also founded her local public library, ensuring that future generations had access to the written word. She was truly ahead of her time, proving that community building and championing creativity could go hand in hand. She was inducted into the School of Journalism’s inaugural class of honorees for the Distinguished Alumni Award, but we think we can do more to recognize the pathway she paved for women.
Nelson Poynter, BA 1924, Honorary LLD’96
Internationally recognized for his achievements, Poynter’s best-known legacy is that which he left for Indiana University under his namesake. Born into a newspaper family, his journalism career began while working for the IDS, but his vision to inform and inspire continued across many decades. He penned many editorial and business stories while working at several wellknown newspapers, receiving many awards including the Pulitzer Prize. When he agreed to fund what is now the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at IU, it was with the intent of exploring public trust in American institutions at a time when Watergate was negatively affecting those perceptions. The Poynter Center has become a lasting symbol of his values:
humility, civic duty and the belief that higher education has the power to shape not just students, but the future of the country.
Donald R. Mellett
Newspapers were in Mellett’s blood. His father was founder and editor of the paper in Elwood, Indiana, where Mellett was born and raised. So, it was only natural that he and five of his brothers pursued a career in journalism. He attended IU from 1910 until 1913; before dropping out due to illness, he worked on the newspaper and eventually became editor. It was during this time that he drew attention to the poor water quality in Bloomington. Mellett didn’t live to see the results of his efforts for a modernized water system in town, but he did continue to use his influence as a writer, editor and newspaper owner in the many cities where he lived to draw attention to community issues, and it’s these efforts that gained him recognition in the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. Ultimately his efforts to expose government corruption in Canton, Ohio, led to his assassination, and his life was cut far too short.
John Jackson, BAJ’96
Days before classes began his freshman year, Jackson was already hard at work in the IDS newsroom. Over the next four years, he wore many hats — sports writer, editor, paginator and ultimately editor-in-chief. He worked under deadline right up until the night he was admitted to the hospital, where he
would die just weeks before graduation. But Jackson’s legacy lives on in the form of a memorial scholarship to aid students’ pursuits of hands-on media experience. More than $100,000 has been awarded to IU Journalism students, proving that Jackson’s impact continues to be bigger than any headline he ever wrote.
Gene Miller, BA’50, Honorary LLD’77
When Miller was writing for the Indiana Daily Student, he was the guy who brought the humor, covering lighthearted stories that probably made readers chuckle between classes. But after graduating from IU, Miller took a sharp turn toward the serious side of journalism. During his 48 years as an investigative reporter and editor at the Miami Herald, he became known for digging deep. Over the course of more than 100 stories, Miller’s investigative reporting helped free four people who had been wrongly convicted of murder. Those stories were life-defining for the innocent people whose lives he helped restore and career-defining for Miller, who received two Pulitzer Prizes. He took the skills he honed as a student journalist and applied them to the weighty responsibility of seeking justice — and in doing so, he proved that journalism can truly be a force for good.
Michel du Cille, BA’85
As a student, one of du Cille’s most wellknown photo essays captured an elderly couple living in poverty in Bloomington. He immersed himself in their world, earning their trust and showing the human side of a story often overlooked. That kind of empathy and immersion became the foundation of his work, especially when telling the stories of people facing unimaginable hardship. He later took that same commitment to storytelling to the Miami Herald, where he won two Pulitzer Prizes for his powerful photo essays — one documenting crack cocaine addicts living in a Miami housing project. Later, as picture editor at The Washington Post, he led the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The story led to reforms in how the government cares for injured veterans. Sadly, Du Cille’s life was cut short while on assignment in Liberia, but his legacy lives on. His work showed the world that a picture isn’t just worth a thousand words; sometimes, it’s worth changing the world.
The best new places to eat and drink when you visit B-Town
By Jenny Kustra-Quinn BAJ’ 91
When spending a couple days in their beloved Bloomington, most alumni are sure to hit establishments that have been part of the fabric of IU for decades — such as Nick’s English Hut (of course!), the Bluebird, the Runcible Spoon, Uptown Café and Kilroy’s, to name a few of the classics. And that’s understandable, considering these bars and restaurants are longtime Hoosier favorites that provide the settings for many fond, albeit fuzzy, college memories. ¶ But if you don’t venture too far from the familiar while in Bloomington, you’ll miss out on some truly special – and nationally recognized – drinking and dining experiences. ¶ Not convinced? Consider this: Bloomington’s culinary scene has received national media attention in recent years, including being called an “unlikely epicenter of eclectic global cuisine” by Forbes and one of the 50 Best Foodie Towns in America by the Daily Meal. ¶ So for your next Bloomington adventure, include those sentimental stops, but also branch out and head to a few of the hotspots that have transformed the town over the past several years. Here are some standouts:
The Elm
614 E. Second St.
In February, USA Today included the Elm on its 2024 Restaurants of the Year list, a high honor for the two-year-old destination located in the eclectic Elm Heights neighborhood. Billed as “a gathering place for people who crave community and culinary adventure,” the Elm has seasonal menu creations inspired by the owners’ life of travel and adventure. This fine-dining restaurant is perfect for special occasions but also a nice spot to stop in for a creative small plate and cocktail.
FARMbloomington
108 E. Kirkwood Ave.
With seasonally inspired menus that are constantly evolving based on the availability of local ingredients, FARMbloomington is a popular hub of fresh, sustainable fare. The farm-to-table restaurant has brunch, lunch, dinner and even cocktails covered, so drop in any time. The french fries are particularly popular, with USA Today naming them among the best in the country just last July.
Osteria Rago
419 E. Kirkwood Ave. Diners have to really look for this Italian eatery that is tucked away off the beaten path, but the search is worth the effort. The menu is full of classic, authentic Italian comfort food, served in an 1880s-style carriage house.There are items for many price ranges. Osteria Rago has earned its status as a hidden gem.
Big Woods
116 N. Grant St. This microbrewery and gastropub started in nearby Nashville but is now also a popular Bloomington hangout, featuring pizza, tacos, burgers and tasty bar food. The restaurant recently expanded its bar area and dining room, adding some indoor space to accommodate more customers in the winter months.
The Dunnkirk Library
430 E. Kirkwood Ave. Located behind the Upstairs Pub, this speakeasy is dark and cozy and gives off a cool vibe. It’s centrally located on a bustling section of Kirkwood but manages to feel hidden away. And it’s not your typical college bar – literary-themed cocktails are inspired, reservations are recommended, and the dress code is dressy casual.
The Tap 101 N. College Ave. Featuring pub fare and an extensive beer and cocktail menu, the Tap has everything you need to eat and drink while you enjoy the live music, which is featured on Fridays and Saturdays. The Tap is also a brewery, expertly brewing more than 30 beers each year.
Top: The 18971898 staff of the Daily Student was led by Florence Myrick Ahl (seated at center), the first woman to become editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
Above: Michel du Cille, BA’85, shown in this 1979 Arbutus yearbook photo, was a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner before his death in 2014 while on assignment at the Washington Post in Liberia. The Inkwell Bakery & Café
S. Woodlawn Ave. and 105 N. College Ave.
shops.
OPINIONS
This column, published in the 1922 State Fair edition of the IDS, ran without a byline, but it was most likely written by the editor-inchief at the time, future Pulitzer Prize winner Ernie Pyle.
Nearly everyone who has ever attended Indiana University will tell you there is no place in the world like Indiana. They sometimes attempt to explain that statement but they cannot. Strangely enough, in their attempt to explain, they fail to mention the assets of the school usually mentioned by its boosters. They have nothing to say about the remarkable professors whose fame seems so much greater in the outside world than it does to the students who work under them. They do not mention the buildings or equipment or the many advantages carefully compiled in the school catalog. They do not gather together and present facts which a logical speaker would use in convincing folk that this is a great school.
Ex-students recognize the value of all these things, recognize their argumentative value. But when they ejaculate that there is no place in all the world like Indiana, they are thinking about something else. They are thinking of spring days when the campus is bursting with fragrance, vivid with the color of blossoms and new leaves, and when the moon is bright—it is undeniable that spring is nowhere in the world as it is at Indiana. They are thinking about the autumn
evenings when dusk has settled and the last cheers have died out over Jordan Field and another football game has become a memory, another football game which may or may not have been a victory but which was a courageous fight by Indiana men whom everyone in school knew and liked.
They are thinking of “pep” meetings and mass meetings and powwows in which Indiana men sounded the ancient battle cry,where sheepish football captains tried to make speeches before a howling crowd of students and equally wild old grads, and where the old songs gave at the same time a sudden impulse to tears and an electric thrill down the backbone.
They are thinking about hundreds of wholesome, pleasant people, who were their friends.
They are thinking something about Indiana which none of them could ever express in words.
These persons who make such broad unqualified statements about Indiana say that they have since tried out living in many other places but that somehow the tang is missing. Other schools can contain nothing after such moments. Other schools seem to lack the facilities to produce those thrills which certainly can come within but four years of a lifetime.
These are the feelings of those who have been here and have left. Perhaps it is foolish and sentimental but they will affirm it is the truth.
TUESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY
These are uncertain times for the IDS. But there is hope.
These are uncertain times for student-produced journalism at Indiana University. Our alumni edition staff includes representation from nearly a half-century of IU graduates. Just five weeks before we gathered in Bloomington to produce this edition, the Media School announced plans to merge the Indiana Daily Student with WIUX, IUSTV and other campus media organizations. Just three days before we arrived, the IDS faced vocal criticism for its election coverage by statewide politicians.
The IDS has been a training ground for student journalists for more than 150 years. Students in its newsroom have, for generations, found ways to cover this community through trying times and changing business models. The first paper was an on-again, off-again campus club. Later iterations were produced through undergraduate coursework. Only in the past 50 years or so has it been supported by advertising and subscription dollars.
Throughout all those changes, Hoosier journalists have earned national recognition for their work. They’ve made mistakes that become learning opportunities. As alumni — and as former staffers and editors of the publication — we are concerned by physical and existential threats to First Amendment freedoms on IU’s campus. Protesters locked out of Dunn Meadow. Reporters followed home after their shifts in the newsroom. Elected officials targeting critical coverage from undergraduate students. Those threats should be taken seriously. As alumni of the IDS, we hope that the University and the IU community understand the importance of student journalism as a campus institution. Even if you don’t agree with every decision made, the students in Franklin Hall have a First Amendment right to make them. It is incumbent on IU and the Media School to protect those free press rights and
vigorously defend students’ ability to express those freedoms. The economic uncertainty of the student newsroom can be seen as another kind of threat. But the model described by Dean David Tolchinsky — with ample Media School funding over the next five years — has the potential to grow that strong tradition of excellence in Bloomington’s student newsrooms. Our alumni board has long called for a mixedmedia organization that combines the resources of the IDS with other student newsrooms like WIUX and IUSTV, and we’re excited to see that come one step closer to reality. The loss of a regular print edition will be a dramatic change in the rhythm of the student-run newsroom. But that loss comes with incredible opportunities. For one, as our alumnus journalist Ryan Gunterman reported in this edition, the IDS will produce print editions seven times in the spring semester — nearly once every two weeks. But it also allows the media learning lab to evolve into a stronger opportunity for students to explore new storytelling methods.
Other Media School students outside of the IDS can excel at multimedia storytelling through opportunities with the Arnolt
Want
Sports media experiences abound at IU
By Dustin Long BA’91
These days, a sports journalist can be a videographer, broadcaster, podcaster, social media presence and writer at nearly the same time.
To match the increasing demands, Galen Clavio, director of the National Sports Journalism Center, has tailored the Center’s programming to provide multiple experiences for IU students.
“What I try to do with our students is prepare them skill-wise and experientially for any one of a number of outcomes that are hard to predict until you get about a year of graduation,” Clavio said.
“What are you going to be interested in? What sorts of jobs are open? How has technology evolved, and where are new jobs becoming available?”
Clavio notes that “as we prepare reporters … all of the skills that they learn are transferable into any one of a number of other avenues.
“I’ve watched my students graduate, get a job in the journalism field and then their next job is working for a team or working for a league office or something like that. Then their job after that is back in journalism. So, that’s really kind of the core of what we try to do, is we use the center to bring in opportunities to connect with internship sites, to bring in guest speakers, to bring in adjunct instructors.”
All to help students learn various aspects of the field.
The National Sports Journalism Center was founded in 2009 to connect students with the sports journalism industry. The Center works with the Media School at IU. Clavio has taught there since 2009 and moved into his current position in 2015.
His courses include sports broadcasting, social media in sports, sports media literacy, and senior-level project courses that help students become professionals in the sports media industry.
Among those who have taught in the program are Mike Wells, who served as the Indianapolis Colts reporter for ESPN, and Zak Keefer, a senior writer for the Athletic and IU graduate.
Clavio said the National Sports Journalism Center was originally founded “as a way to promote sports media at IU and also provide an interface with industry.”
When Clavio took over, the focus turned to undergraduate education. The
Center focuses beyond sports journalism. It includes sports production and sports public relations.
“We try to simulate a professional media environment here at the school, and we’re very fortunate because we have a really good relationship with the athletic department and that we get tons of credentials,” Clavio said. “For a football game or a basketball game … if you count up content creators and writers and social and production, we probably have 70 or 80 students on a credential covering those games or working them in some way.”
Some of the Center’s work begins before students arrive on campus. When Clavio finds out about prospective students interested in sports journalism, he’ll add them to distribution lists and encourage them to apply for a position with the Indiana Daily Student, the Hoosier Network, WIUX 99.1 FM or IU
Student Television before they arrive on campus.
For as much as sports journalism has changed since the Center was founded and since Clavio took over, the field will continue to evolve, so what’s next for the Center looking toward the future?
“It’s something I think about all the time, and I’m very active in working with our student leaders in the sports media area to try to make sure that we don’t pigeonhole ourselves unnecessarily,” Clavio said.
“A couple of ways I approach that, I actively encourage our students to get involved with multiple different outlets here and to really dig into the process of learning how to write, learning how to edit video, learning how to talk on camera, learning with the different social networks are for and how to use them in a way that is professional.”
Above: The IUSTV Ed Spray Control Room. Below: The Ken and Audrey Beckley Studio in Franklin Hall.
