The Parthenon turns 125!

One of the nation’s oldest college newspapers is celebrating a milestone anniversary.

By Amanda Larch

Having been published for decades by the time Marshall College attained university status in 1961, the Parthenon is, in a way, older than Marshall University itself.

Established in 1898 as Marshall’s student newspaper, the Parthenon is one of the oldest college newspapers in America. Over those years it has garnered a multitude of national awards, scooped local newspapers on several big stories and produced some of the nation’s most respected journalists and media executives, including two Pulitzer Prize winners.

To mark the Parthenon’s

125th anniversary this year, the journalism school

23 game against Virginia Tech and will incorporate weekend,” said Sandy York, interim director of the SOJMC. “A save-thedate will go out first. We set it around a big football game in hopes that a lot of people will want to come.” has planned a special alumni weekend this fall, complete with tailgating and open tours of the newsroom. The weekend is tentatively planned to coincide with the Sept. the annual W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications (SOJMC) Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

When York was named interim director in 2021, she had worked as the faculty advisor of the Parthenon for 10 years. Even in her current role, she remains heavily involved with the paper.

“We are going to make it a whole journalism fall

“I started at Marshall in 1998, and that was the year of the 100th anniversary — so this also marks my 25th year with the Parthenon,” she said. “The students were working on the 100th anniversary edition when I started here.

The newspaper staff are planning on marking the paper’s milestone anniversary with special editions and other commemorative stories this fall, according to Executive Editor Evan Green.

“We’re definitely going to put something together, but we haven’t finalized our plans yet,” Green said.

The Parthenon is not only one of the oldest newspapers in the country, but it was also one of the first newspapers in West Virginia to create a website and establish an online presence. It continues to expand its digital reach through e-newsletters. Even as the paper has moved from printing multiple times a week to publishing one print edition weekly, it’s still a valuable news source for students. The Parthenon consistently keeps up with everything at the university; oftentimes, it stays ahead, making for a fun and exciting job for students and faculty alike.

“There are times we’ve moved with the industry, or hopefully a little bit ahead of the industry,” York said. “We’re always looking to what social media are doing.”

Green said one of his goals as executive editor is to expand the paper’s social media presence.

“We are working on developing an app through our website so students can easily access the Parthenon and get updates when we post new content,” he said. “We’re trying to make this digital push to make sure students have easy and complete access to the news source on campus.”

Through the years, the Parthenon has produced a variety of special editions centered on homecoming, the state Legislature, sports and more, sometimes breaking major news.

Dr. George Arnold, who worked as an advisor and SOJMC professor for more than 30 years, was a faculty member in 1970 when Parthenon reporter Jeff Nathan was one of the 75 killed in the Marshall plane crash. The crash “was unquestionably the saddest part of the history of Marshall University,” Arnold said.

Following the crash, Parthenon students approached SOJMC faculty about putting together a special edition of the paper, Arnold recalled. W. Page Pitt, department chairman at that time, told students to do whatever they wanted for the special edition, and he would fund it.

In two and a half days, the 24-page edition went to press. Arnold said it’s the only time he can remember content from both faculty members and students, as the paper has always been entirely student-produced.

“We had a hard deadline, and there were some things faculty members were a little bit better able to write because we had been around and we knew people,” he explained. “Page Pitt and others wrote the stories.”

Pitt mailed a copy of the special edition to journalism schools across the country. The edition received not only complimentary feedback but also several national awards. edition than of any special edition we ever did.”

Though not involved with the paper in 1961, edition all over campus,” he said. “They burst into classrooms, yelling, ‘We are a university!’ Most students just closed their notebooks and ran out to celebrate. It was one of the happiest moments I ever witnessed in my 41 years at Marshall.”

Along with Arnold, Dr. Ralph J. Turner was a prominent leader at the Parthenon. Turner set the ethical and professional standards for the paper, Arnold said.

“We didn’t do it for the awards; we did it to honor and remember those who were killed in the plane crash,” Arnold said. “I think I am prouder of that special

Arnold was a student when Marshall College became a university.

“I was in a history class when journalism students started handdelivering the special

“He was the most highly ethical person I ever knew — not only in journalism, but in his own personal life,” Arnold said.

Turner stressed professionalism to all J-School