VOTE YES TO KEEP THE DAILY TARGUM INDEPENDENT
Serving the Rutgers community since 1869. Independent since 1980.
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY—NEW BRUNSWICK
WEDNESDAY APRIL 17, 2019
ONLINE AT DAILYTARGUM.COM
VOLUME 151, ISSUE 47 • UNIVERSITY ... 3 • OPINIONS ... 6 • INSIDE BEAT... 8• DIVERSIONS ... 9• SPORTS ... BACK
Referendum 2
April 17, 2019
An inside look at The Daily Targum MELISSA HAYES TARGUM ALUMNA
For 150 years, The Daily Targum has been a source of information, a forum for diverse voices on campus and a living classroom. The paper holds the Rutgers administration accountable, it showcases the University’s uniqueness and tells stories you will not find anywhere else. The Targum is produced by students for students and it cannot exist without your help. We need your vote to pass referendum. I say “we” because even though I graduated 15 years ago, The Daily Targum has and always will be a part of me. The Targum prepared me for life after college. It taught me how to be a reporter, writer, editor and manager. I even learned how to develop film (back when we had a dark room) and lay out the paper. Thanks to a Targum alumnus, I landed an internship in The Record’s statehouse bureau my senior year. Having that internship under my belt and being able to say I worked for the Targum is what landed me my first job after graduation. And the Targum helped me secure jobs for years down the
road because the paper’s rich histor y and record of award-winning journalism carries weight in the industr y. It is how I landed my dream job at my hometown paper, The Record, back in 2010. I left on a high note in late 2015 after spending a year on the campaign trail covering the race for the Republican presidential nomination. I have since moved on to a new career, but I still find myself falling back on things I first learned during my days at the Targum. But, perhaps the best thing the Targum gave me is an amazing group of friends, several who went into journalism and many who never intended to, but found something beneficial in working at the paper. Among my friends there are teachers, lawyers, a pharmacist, a software engineer and a yoga instructor. The beauty of the Targum is that it has something to offer ever yone. We have some incredible alumni – one founded his own hedge fund, another is the drummer in Mercy Union and The Gaslight Anthem. CNN Digital’s vice president for news, opinion and programming is a Targum alumna, as is the
anchor of CNBC’s Squawk Box, as well as the editor of Politico and sports editor of The New York Times. And the former
editor-in-chief from my first year of college just covered Virginia’s epic Final Four win for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
I hope you will help us continue our 150-year tradition of serving the Rutgers community by supporting referendum.
The Daily Targum has been through many different fonts and layout designs, but one thing remains constant: a passion for student journalism. For decades, the paper has remained independent, publishing content every single day for Rutgers students and faculty. DUSTIN NILES / PHOTO EDITOR
Editor-in-Chief urges you to VOTE YES for Referendum To the reader:
WHY SHOULD YOU VOTE YES?
Referendum 2019 is crucial for The Daily Targum’s existence, but it is also imperative for the students of Rutgers University—New Brunswick. The Targum is the second-oldest collegiate newspaper in the nation, existing since 1869. For more than 150 years, we have created a daily paper, by students for students. The Targum covers Rutgers University, its students, athletes and professors, as well as college life, the surrounding communities and the ideas and viewpoints discovered. We proposed scarlet as the school color, we reported on the first collegiate football game in the world and we have continued to break news stories ever since.
We are constantly expanding and adapting in order to represent the Rutgers community. With 14 editors, we have rebooted the “Humans of RU” project on Instagram and Facebook, as well as created the “RU Streetwear” project. We want to involve and represent the diverse student body of Rutgers, on social media and within our paper. We have also expanded coverage across all desks. The sports desk created a new section called, “Spotlight Knight,” which will help tell the stories of athletes, both Division I and club sports. The Inside Beat desk has expanded its coverage to include an “Artist Spotlight,” to highlight the underground music scene at Rutgers. These are just a few examples of what we have recently done to better represent the
Rutgers community. This paper is as much yours as it is ours, and we hope you take part in supporting your school newspaper.
its image. More importantly, we would not be able to exercise our right to journalistic integrity and free speech.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE TARGUM DOESN’T PASS REFERENDUM?
WHAT DO WE USE FUNDING FOR?
We have been independent from the University since 1980, which is vital for our coverage to remain unbiased and investigative. The Targum would shut down if Referendum did not pass, or become absorbed by the University, making the funding fall under the student fee, and thus becoming non-refundable. Additionally, with the loss of independence, Rutgers would control what we publish. We would be prohibited from publishing anything critical of or detrimental to the University and
We print 10,000 copies of the paper Monday through Friday. It is a full-time job for editors, working five days a week from 4:00 p.m. until the paper is finished — usually between 1 and 2 a.m. We also utilize funds for equipment used by the editors, such as video and camera equipment, the software we license, the printing and delivery costs and the travel costs to cover our athletic teams.
HOW CAN YOU VOTE?
I implore you to take a few minutes to vote. Log into
getinvolved.rutgers.edu and scroll down to The Daily Targum link. Click the yes button! Be sure to click next, and then submit. Students with 105 or fewer credits can vote, as graduating seniors will not be paying the term bill next year, and will not be impacted by Referendum. Students in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy can vote if they have 179 credits or fewer. Do not let Rutgers University— New Brunswick become the only Big Ten school without a newspaper. We have stood by you for 150 years, and we now ask you to stand by us. Sincerely, Rebecca Bright Editor-in-Chief/Co-CEO of the Targum Publishing Co.
Located in the office of The Daily Targum are records of every single issue since the 1970s. Each of the volumes in the photo above contain an entire semester’s worth of news, op-eds and photos. GARRETT STEFFE / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR
Referendum 3
April 17, 2019
Time is running out: Vote for free independent news BRENDAN INTINDOLA TARGUM ALUMNUS
There will be an ask later, but first, a Rutgers story. Spring 1985. A brutal winter in the past. I had a semester of Rutgers locked down and settled in for the long road toward the degree promised land. I had a great academic and social life living on the edge of civilization in Voorhees Hall, Room 420, grinding out the 100-200 levels. Like so many other new students before and after me, I attained the point of: “Right. This is going to work.” Yet a hole remained in my Rutgers experience, with a daily reminder. Each morning — and yes, some afternoons — at Neilson Dining Hall: Raisin Bran, black coffee and The Daily Targum. When I first arrived at Rutgers in the fall, I had what turned out to be one of the most consequential surprises of my life. What? The paper is published every day? Is this for real? How is this done? I became a regular reader of this independent — i.e. not part of the University — student-run newspaper that connects the vast institution that is Rutgers. Now, I wanted in. The Targum to me is many things, but first it was evidence that I now belonged to a consequential, substantial organization.
Rutgers is immense, diverse and ever-changing. I was a single undergraduate among thousands who reside on campuses spread across miles. And the Targum bound us as one. North. Central. South. In-state, out-of-state. International. We are all “On the Banks.” The Targum is proof. It strives to provide vital, essential institutional cohesion. A common identity, a history and — for those who have made it all happen for the past 151 years — practical know-how and varied career opportunities. The Targum alumni occupy significant positions in the news business, some at The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg and in many other fields. I joined the newspaper. Staff writer. Associate News Editor. Senior News Editor. Editor in Chief. Nearly four years of 40-50 hour weeks, and 12-credit semesters, to create what they call at The Wall Street Journal (where I was an editor) the “Daily Miracle:” Producing a newspaper every day. It is not easy. Nor cheap. Now the ask: It is immensely important for you to vote “YES” in the Targum referendum. A “YES” vote is a green light for a small term-bill fee once a semester — the cost of a round of lattes, or a burrito — to help fund the newspaper.
It became much more than just producing a daily newspaper. It is the foundation of a long, successful career in Manhattan — Reuters News, The New York Stock Exchange, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg — built on what I learned at the Targum and with the support of friends I met there. Lifelong friends. And my wife of 26 years. It is more than just another student activity.
Not only vote for the Targum, JOIN the Targum. There is always a need for reporters, editors, photographers, videographers, business majors and graphic designers with passion and enthusiasm. It could very well be the best undergraduate, or graduate, decision you can make. It was for me, by far. You will learn new skills every day for many professions —
teaching, writing, law, production, design and more — not just news. For more than 150 years, the Targum has chronicled our eminent institution. A great university requires a great independent newspaper, dedicated to the community it serves. Vote YES for the Targum referendum today. And JOIN the Targum!
Targum alumni who have graduated from Rutgers have gone on to become not only journalists, but also successful teachers, pharmacists, software engineers, yoga instructors and more. MICA FINEHART / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Every year, many students are involved in the production, layout and business of The Daily Targum. Above is a photo of the most recent editorial board, a diverse range of students with varying skills and interests. THE DAILY TARGUM
The Targum is where students learn to be journalists BECKY QUICK TARGUM ALUMNA
I love Rutgers. But I often feel like I graduated from The Daily Targum because I spent so much of my student career there, and because what I learned at the Targum is what got me a job
after graduation. It is where I learned to write and communicate, and it is why I was hired by The Wall Street Journal straight out of school. Every year, countless students pass through the Targum’s doors. They learn writing, reporting, editing, photography, production,
advertising and business skills, not to mention responsibility, professionalism and teamwork. Having a daily newspaper is an incredible on-campus training ground and a real advantage that Rutgers provides to students and prospective students. And it is a point of pride that Rutgers has
the second-oldest campus newspaper in the country — founded in 1869, seven years before The Daily Princetonian was founded just down the road. And then there is the ser vice that the Targum provides the entire University community. It is how students and faculty
alike learn about campus news and University life. It provides a common thread to bind and inform the community. It is hard to imagine Rutgers without a daily newspaper. Student funding is key to the Targum’s sur vival. I urge you to vote yes for referendum.