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Spring 1903 The History of The Battalion
Oct. 1, 1893 Volume 1, Number 1 of The Battalion is published
The Longhorn, predecessor to The Aggieland yearbook was first published. The yearbook was named after the species of cattle that roamed the Texas prairie — not after the University of Texas mascot.
1908 Seven members of The Battalion editorial board were suspended on May 20 after running an article on April 22 disputing a published statement by President Henry Harrington. Harrington said the turmoil at the time had been forgotten and everything was returning to normal. The president had disallowed a Corps trip to the UT game in Dallas on Oct. 12, 1907.
May 27, 1912 All official files of Texas A&M publications are lost in the Old Main fire.
Making headlines
1916 The Battalion boasts “the largest college circulation in the South.”
FILE
Over The Battalion’s 125-year life, it has grown along with Texas A&M, providing award winning media coverage along the way.
Looking back on The Battalion’s 125-year history covering the Texas A&M University community In October 1893, a group of Texas A&M cadets picked up their pens and produced the first edition of a 125-year legacy on the A&M campus. The Battalion, Texas’ longest continuous college publication, celebrates 125 years of service to Texas A&M University in the 2018-19 school year. The Battalion, Volume 1, Number 1, debuted on Oct. 1, 1893 as a student publication produced by the Austin and Calliopean Literary Societies, the two most well-established organizations on the campus at the time. The first editor-in-chief was Ernest L. Bruce, Class of 1894 and a civil engineering grad who would go on to attend the University of Texas Law School, serve as a district judge, county attorney and state legislator. In the first issue, Bruce called upon his fellow cadets to write something for every issue. Humble beginnings The Battalion descended from two successive literary magazines published by the literary societies. In 1878, two years after the College was established, the literary societies began a monthly publication called The Texas Collegian. Its name was changed to The College Journal in 1889. The College Journal was a literary magazine containing small excerpts of student’s news and views, according to “A Centennial History of Texas A&M University” by Henry Dethloff. The College Journal was published until 1893. When The Battalion replaced The College Journal, it used more of a newspaper format but held onto its literary roots for many years. The Battalion was published monthly until 1903 when it became a weekly publication. It first appeared in newspaper form on Oct. 8, 1904. Another change was made in 1904 when the Austin and Calliopean Literary Societies turned the paper over to the Association of Students. After this, The Battalion lost much of its literary magazine character. Trouble begins to brew As The Battalion gained influence as a weekly newspaper, a storm was gathering on the A&M campus in 1908. Students were becoming discontent with then A&M President Henry Hill Harrington. In the April 22 issue of The Battalion, an article appeared that disputed a statement made by President Harrington that recent turmoil on the campus had been forgotten and things were returning to normal. On May 20, 1908, the Board of Directors issued instructions to the president to maintain order on campus. They said recent articles that had appeared in The Battalion were disrupting the campus and the responsible parties should be punished. As a result, seven junior class Battalion editors were suspended from the College and the head of the English department was ordered to censor future Battalions in accordance with a rule long in effect but seldom enforced. This was only one of many incidents on the campus that came to be known as the A&M College Trouble of 1908. A staple of Aggieland The Battalion also listed two women as society reporters on the staff in 1910, Miss Esther and Francis Davis. It is not known whether they were daughters of professors or women from the Bryan-College Station community. By 1916, The Battalion had firmly established itself on the
campus and boasted “the largest college circulation in the South,” according to “The Battalion: Seventy Years of Student Publications at the A&M College of Texas” by Vick Lindley. As the 1920s roared by, students continued to publish The Battalion. In 1928, the paper was under the supervision of a Student Activities Committee, which functioned as an advisory board. The Faculty Publications Committee was formed in 1929 to supervise the functioning of the staffs. However, all work on the paper was done by the students with no censorship. The editor and business manager of The Battalion were elected by popular vote of the student body at the end of each school year. A typographical error In the 1920s, a typographical error caused a mix up in the volume numbers. From Volume 30, The Battalion jumped back to Volume 21. The mistake was never corrected, but since The Battalion no longer includes volume numbers, it’s not a problem for current editions. In 1930, The Battalion began publishing a monthly humor magazine. Filled with jokes, poems and humorous stories, the magazine originally was substituted once a month for one of The Battalion’s weekly issues. The Battalion magazine was suspended “for the duration” because of paper shortage and a lack of Corps of Cadets as a result of World War II. The last magazine was published in 1943. In 1931, the A&M Student Publications Board was created to handle the administrative details of all student publications. The board was composed of the four editors of student publications (The Battalion, the Longhorn Yearbook, the Technoscope and the Texas Aggie Countryman), two students and three faculty members. The A&M Press began to print The Battalion in 1931. Before that, the paper had been printed in Bryan. For the first time, The Battalion was provided with its own campus office. The newspaper’s influence continued to grow as it expanded into a three-times-a-week publication during the 1939-40 school year. The Battalion became the official publication for the College and for the city of College Station, according to Lindley’s book. In 1941, the Student Publications Board and the Student Activities Committee combined to form the Student Life Committee. Supervision and control of student publications was assigned to the Student Activities Office. The second World War While World War II was being fought overseas during the 1941-42 school year, the Student Activities Office voted to continue the regular publication schedule of The Battalion throughout the summer months while the College was on its wartime, streamlined plan of operation. As World War II called many of the cadets into service, Battalion space was turned over to these armed service groups who produced their own columns. “We had stories on A&M men in action,” said Tom Journeay, spring 1941 managing editor of The Battalion. “We were all cognizant of it. Nearly everyone was in the Corps. They realized they were going into the military.” At this time, The Battalion office was located in the basement of the Administration Building. By 1945, The Battalion was forced to return to weekly publication because of war restrictions on materials. By the spring of 1947, The Battalion went back to being a twice-a-week publication and later a three-times-a-week publication. Although The Battalion operated under the Student Activities Committee, it’s preparation, editing, censorship and
management were left entirely to the students in charge. By 1947, enrollment had drastically increased at A&M. It was also the beginning of non-military students on campus. This was a result of World War II veterans returning to campus who did not want to be in the Corps. The Battalion covered issues such as the increasing enrollment and the purchase of Fish Field, said Richard Alterman, summer 1947 managing editor of The Battalion. Alterman said he remembers The Battalion newsroom as a place for the staff to spend their extra time. “The Battalion was strictly voluntary,” he said. “We had no journalism classes. It was extra curriculum.” The summer of 1947 was filled with preparations for eventual daily publication. An Associated Press wire-service teletype was installed in the new offices of The Battalion in Goodwin Hall. “When Aggies returned from their summer vacation, a daily Battalion was waiting for them in Batt boxes in dormitory halls,” according to Lindley’s book. The Battalion also became an associate member of the Associated Press and was rated “All-American” by the Associated Collegiate Press. Although the journalism department had been established at A&M by 1950, The Battalion still operated independently. “Student publications were quite separate from journalism,” said John Whitmore, editor of The Battalion in the school year of 1951-52. “Those on the staff were not necessarily journalism majors.” Although they might have found themselves at odds with the administration, Battalion editors were allowed the freedom to direct the paper and its policies. “Part of our editorial philosophy was to raise hell and stay this side of being burned up, and not in effigy,” Whitmore said. Making the news The Battalion itself was in the headlines in 1954 with the mass resignation of the staff. On Feb. 23, 1954, co-editors Jerry Bennett and Ed Holder resigned after the Student Life Committee established an editorial board for The Battalion, “arguing that the student editorial staff needed assistance and guidance,” according to Dethloff’s book. “Censorship is hidden with advice and assistance,” said Bennett and Holder in a statement to the press following their resignation. “To us, it still means the same thing. This committee has been set up to stop The Battalion from printing the truth about things at A&M which are embarrassing to some individuals.” The following day, the entire news staff with the exception of a few staff writers, resigned on the grounds that the administration was attempting to censor the newspaper because it had been critical of past administrations. On March 23, 1954, a new staff was named. Several of the staff who had resigned in February assumed new staff positions in March. One of those was Harri Baker, a former campus editor who took over the position of co-editor with Bob Boriskie, a former sports editor. “The resignation was an effective device,” Baker said. “I and Bob Boriski, with the agreement of the entire staff, assumed editorial positions. There was no hint of censorship after that.” During Baker’s time at The Battalion, discussions were underway about ideas that eventually would become significant changes on the A&M campus. The role of the Corps and the admittance of women to the College were two of the issues
CONGRATULATIONS ON 125 YEARS!
HISTORY ON PG. B7
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1920s 1918 The Battalion suspends publication due to World War I, but soon resumes printing.
Sometime in the 1920s, a typographical error caused a mix-up in The Battalion’s volume numbers which was never successfully corrected. When The Battalion celebrated its 100th birthday, the volume number read 93, though it should have been 101. Today, The Battalion does not use issue or volume numbers, so the issue is negligible.
1939
1931 The Battalion is provided with its own office. The A&M Student Publications Board is created to handle administrative details of all student publications. For the first time, The Battalion is printed by the A&M Press on campus.
Spring 1947
The Battalion is named the official publication for A&M and the city of College Station.
1945 The Battalion is forced to only publish on a weekly basis because of war restrictions on materials.
The only known extra edition of The Battalion is run off on a mimeograph one Saturday afternoon. The paper ran to cover the excess stories happening that particular weekend.
125 years of newsroom leadership Battalion editors 1893-2018 1893-94 Staff #1 E.L. Bruce 1893-94 Staff #2 B.C. Pittuck 1893-94 Staff #3 A. Miller Todd Spring 1894 H.C. Kyle 1894-95 Staff #1 F.M. Law Jr. Fall 1895 J.H. Miley Spring 1896 C.M. Park Summer 1896 H.C. Kyle 1896-97 Staff #1 E.M. Overshiner 1896-97 Staff #2 C.C. Todd 1896-97 Staff #3 H.M. Rollins Spring 1898 J. Kerr 1898-99 Staff #1 A.M. Sloss 1898-99 Staff #2 E.L. Martin 1898-99 Staff #3 R.J. Poulter Fall 1899-Spring 1900 O.M. Simpson Spring 1900 Seth B. Holman Fall 1900 R.J. Rhome Spring 1901-Spring 1902 Unknown Fall 1902-Spring 1903 J.W. Oliphant Fall 1903-Spring 1904 T.P. Clonts Fall 1904-Spring 1905 B.L. Durst Fall 1905-Spring 1906 Benn Gleason Fall 1906 - Spring 1907 T.E. Holloway Fall 1907 - Spring 1908 C.W. Leggett Fall 1908-Spring 1909 C.P. Brannin Fall 1909-Spring 1910 F.J. Skeeler Fall 1910-Spring 1911 R.F. Rudolph Fall 1911-Spring 1912 A.G. Wilson Fall 1912-Spring 1913 J.F. Brown Fall 1913-Spring 1914 J.K.G. Fisher Fall 1914-Spring 1915 A.E. Burges Fall 1915-Spring 1916 M.T. Garrett Fall 1916-Spring 1917 J.B. Joyce Fall 1917-Spring 1918 J.W. Williams Spring 1919 C.H. Clark Fall 1919-Spring 1920 Tom Cheeves Fall 1920-Spring 1921 Frank L. Bertschler Fall 1921-Spring 1922 Paul C. Franke Fall 1922-Spring 1923 W.D. Tiner Fall 1923-Spring 1924 Thomas A. McCarter Fall 1924-Spring 1925 Jack E. Finks Fall 1925-Spring 1926 Jack Williams Fall 1926-Spring 1927 Louis J. Franke Fall 1927-Spring 1928 W.C. “Buck” Morris Fall 1928-Spring 1929 Ernest L. Andrews Fall 1929-Spring 1930 L.W. Johnston
Fall 1930-Spring 1931 Robert Herbert Fall 1931-Spring 1932 Claude M. Evans Fall 1932-Spring 1933 G.M. Dent Fall 1933-Spring 1934 Wade M. Watson Fall 1934-Spring 1935 D.L. Tisinger Fall 1935-Spring 1936 J.M. Shepard Fall 1936-Spring 1937 Tom M. Brown Fall 1937-Spring 1938 C.W. Walker Fall 1938-Spring 1939 R.L. Doss Summer 1939-Spring 1940 Bill Murray 1st Summer 1940 George Fuermann 2nd Summer 1940 Bob Nisbet Fall 1940-Spring 1941 Bob Nisbet 1st Summer 1941 V. A. Yentzen 2nd Summer 1941 Tom Gillis Fall 1941 Don Gabriel Spring 1942 E.M. Rosenthal Summer 1942-Fall 1942 Brooks Cofer Spring 1943 John Holman Summer 1943 Henry A. Tillett – Co-Editor H. Sylvester Boone – Co-Editor Fall 1943-Spring 1944 #1 Ben Fortson Fall 1943-Spring 1944 #2 H. Sylvester Boone Fall 1943-Spring 1944 #3 H. Sylvester Boone Summer 1944-Fall 1944 Calvin Brumley Spring 1945 Dick Goad Summer 1945 John F. Spragins Jr. Fall 1945-Spring 1946 Sam A. Nixon Summer 1946 H.O. Johnson Jr. - Co-Editor Allen Self - Co-Editor Fall 1946-Spring 1947 Allen Self - Corps Editor Vick Lindley - Veteran Editor Summer 1947 Charlie Murray - Editor Fall 1947-Spring 1948 Charlie Murry - Co-Editor Jimmie Nelson - Co-Editor Summer 1948 Kenneth Bond - Co-Editor Louis Morgan - Co-Editor Fall 1948-Spring 1949 Kenneth Bond - Co-Editor Tom Carter - Co-Editor Summer 1949 Bill Billingsley - Executive Editor Marvin Brown - Co-Editor Clayton Selph - Co-Editor Fall 1949-Spring 1950 Bill Billingsley - Co-Editor C.C. Munroe - Co-Editor Summer 1950 Dean Reed - Co-Editor L.O. Tiedt - Co-Editor Fall 1950-Spring 1951 Dave Coslet - Co-Editor Clayton Selph - Co-Editor Summer 1951 Joel Austin Fall 1951-Spring 1952 John Whitmore Summer 1952 Bob Selleck Fall 1952-Spring 1953 Frank N. Manitzas - Co-Editor Joel Austin - Co-Editor Summer 1953-Feb. 23, 1954 Jerry Bennett - Co-Editor
Ed Holder - Co-Editor March 23, 1954-June 3, 1954 Bob Boriskie - Co-Editor Harri Baker - Co-Editor Summer 1954 Harri Baker - Editor Fall 1954-Spring 1955 Bob Boriskie - Co-Editor Harri Baker - Co-Editor Summer 1955-Spring 1956 Bill Fullerton Summer 1956 Dave McReynolds Fall 1956-Spring 1957 Jim Bower Summer 1957 Jim Neighbors Fall 1957-Spring 1958 Joe Tindel Summer 1958 Johnny Johnson Fall 1958-Spring 1959 Joe Buser Summer 1959 David Stoker Fall 1959-Summer 1960 Johnny Johnson Fall 1960-Spring 1961 Bill Hicklin Summer 1961 Joe Callicoatte Fall 1961-Spring 1962 Bob Sloan Summer 1962 Larry Smith Fall 1962-Spring 1963 Alan Payne Summer 1963 Van Conner Fall 1963-Spring 1964 Dan Louis Jr. Summer 1964 John Wright Fall 1964-Spring 1965 Ronnie Faan Summer 1965 Lani Presswood Fall 1965-Spring 1966 Glenn Dromgoole Summer 1966 Gerald Garcia Fall 1966-Sept. 30, 1966 Tommy DeFrank Oct. 7, 1966-Summer 1967 Winston Green Jr. Fall 1967-Spring 1968 Charles Rowton Summer 1968 John McCarroll Fall 1968-Spring 1969 John W. FulleR Summer 1969 Richard Campbell Fall 1969-Spring 1970 Dave Mayes Summer 1970 Frank Griffis Fall 1970-Summer 1971 David Middlebrooke Fall 1971-Spring 1972 Hayden Whitsett Summer 1972 John Curylo Fall 1972-Spring 1973 Mike Rice Summer 1973 Ted Boriskie Fall 1973 Mike Rice Spring 1974 Rod Speer Fall 1974-Spring 1975 Greg Moses Summer 1975-April 1976 James Breedlove April-May 1976 Roxie Hearn Summer 1976-Spring 1977 Jerry Needham Summer 1977 Lee Roy Leschper Jr. Fall 1977-Spring 1978 Jamie Aitken Summer 1978 Debby Krenek
Fall 1978-Spring 1979 Kim Tyson Summer 1979 Karen Rogers Fall 1979 Liz Newlin Spring 1980 Roy Bragg Summer 1980-Spring 1981 Dillard Stone Summer 1981-Spring 1982 Angelique Copeland Summer 1982-Spring 1983 Diana Sultenfuss Summer 1983-Fall 1983 Hope F. Paasch Spring 1984-Summer 1984 Rebeca Zimmerman Fall 1984 Bill Robinson (1962-1984) Stephanie Ross Spring 1985 Brigid Brockman Summer 1985 Kellie Dworaczyk Fall 1985 Rhonda Snider Spring 1986-Summer 1986 Michelle Powe Fall 1986 Cathie Anderson Spring 1987 Loren Steffy Summer 1987-Fall 1987 Sondra Pickard Spring 1988 Sue Krenek Summer 1988 Richard Williams Fall 1988 Lydia Berzsenyi Spring 1989 Becky Weisenfels Summer 1989 Ellen Hobbs Fall 1989-Spring 1990 Scot Walker Summer 1990 Monique Threadgill Fall 1990 Cindy McMillan Spring 1991 Lisa Robertson Summer 1991-Fall 1991 Timm Doolen Spring 1992 Douglas Pils Summer 1992 Todd Stone Fall 1992 Atlantis Tillman Spring 1993 Steve O’Brien Summer 1993 Jason Loughman Fall 1993 Chris Whitley Spring 1994 Juli Phillips Summer 1994 Mark Evans Fall 1994 Belinda Blancarte Spring 1995 Mark Smith Summer 1995 Jay Robbins Fall 1995 Rob Clark Spring 1996 Sterling Hayman Summer 1996 Stacy Stanton Fall 1996 Michael Landauer Spring 1997 Rachel Barry Summer 1997 Stew Milne Fall 1997 Helen Clancy Spring 1998 Tiffany Moore Inbody Summer 1998 James Francis
Fall 1998 Mandy Cater Graeber Spring 1999 Aaron Meier Summer 1999 Kasie Byers Fall 1999 Sallie Turner Spring 2000 Marium Mohiuddin Summer 2000 Beverly Mireles Fall 2000 Beth Miller Spring 2001-Summer 2001 Jeff Kempf Fall 2001 Brady Creel Spring 2002 Mariano Castillo Summer 2002 Douglas Fuentes Fall 2002 Jessica Crutcher Spring 2003 Brandie Liffick Summer 2003 True Brown Fall 2003 Sommer Hamilton Spring 2004 Elizabeth N. Webb Summer 2004 Joshua Hobson Fall 2004 Kendra Kingsley Spring 2005 Nishat Fatima Summer 2005 Lindsye Forson Fall 2005 Sonia Moghe Spring 2006 Melissa Filbin Summer 2006 Allison Miles Fall 2006-Spring 2007 Melissa Filbin Summer 2007 Chris Hokanson Fall 2007-Spring 2008 Brent Shirley Summer 2008 Kevin Alexander Fall 2008-Spring 2009 Nicole Alvarado Summer 2009 Kalee Bumguardner Fall 2009-Spring 2010 Amanda Casanova Summer 2010 Vicky Flores Fall 2010-Spring 2011 Matt Woolbright Summer 2011 Taylor Wolken Fall 2011-Spring 2012 Robert Carpenter Summer 2012 Naila Dhanani Fall 2012-Spring 2013 Trevor Stevens Summer 2013-Spring 2014 Jake Walker Summer 2014 Allison Rubenak Fall 2014-Spring 2015 Mark Doré Summer 2015 Katy Stapp Fall 2015-Spring 2016 Aimée Breaux Summer 2016 Chevall Pryce Fall 2016-Spring 2017 Sam King Summer 2017-Feb. 2, 2018 Josh McCormack Spring 2018 Gracie Mock (interim Feb. 2-12) Brad Morse (hired Feb. 12) Summer 2018 Taylor Fennell Fall 2018-Spring 2019 Megan Rodriguez
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Fall 1947 The Battalion begins publishing daily again and becomes an associate member of the Associated Press wire service. In 1968, the paper became one of just a handful of college newspapers to be elected to regular membership in the Associated Press.
1953 Spring 1949 The Longhorn, A&M’s yearbook, changes its name to The Aggieland.
“Cadet Slouch” first appears in The Battalion. Dr. Jim Earle earned his undergraduate, master’s and doctorate degree while drawing the cartoon and continued to submit Cadet Slouch comic strips during his time as a professor of civil engineering.
Feb. 23, 1954
Feb. 24, 1954 The entire news staff, with the exception of a few staff writers, resigns from The Battalion.
Co-editors Jerry Bennett and Ed Holder resign after the Faculty Student Life Committee established an editorial board for The Battalion.
March 23, 1954 A new staff is named for The Battalion after the mass resignation in February.
Designing The Battalion: A look through the pages of history 1893
1896
1897
1900
The Battalion began as a broadsheet design after previous literary magazines the Texas Collegian and the College Journal. Each issue contained stories focusing on sports, education, opinion pieces and poetry. The layout of each paper involved little art, relying on bold titles to separate each one. No pictures were included, and ads published in each issue were included on the end pages. Fonts were smaller in order to pack as many stories as possible into each paper.
The paper began to include black and white photos of groups, buildings and important figures on campus. Some of the first pictures in the June 1, 1896 issue included the football team, the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band and orchestra, University President Lawrence Sullivan Ross and a view of Old Main, Assembly Hall, Ross Hall and the Machinery Hall.
Small graphics began to accompany the paper’s stories. Cartoons of mechanical equipment, a cow and an axe were included in a story discussing the twentieth anniversary of the school. This story was a rarity; cartoons were not used regularly at this point.
Beginning with the commencement issue, more photos were included to break up stories. Generally, the photos were profile shots used to show students graduating or those involved in a certain story.
1909
1915
1924
1925
Larger headlines were used to give emphasis to the center stories. Photos and subheadings were used throughout each issue and helped separate stories. Advertisements were also incorporated in each page.
Lines separating each story into columns were used more often to give more organization to each page.
A special sports header and section were used to help Aggie sport stories stand out.
Crossword puzzles were included to provide an interactive element for readers.
1947
1970
1984
1996
The only known extra edition of The Battalion was run in the spring of 1947. There was an influx of news from a student-administration incident that required additional reporting after the paper had gone to press, so an extra edition was run on a Saturday afternoon to cover everything that happened after the regular edition printed.
Better use of spacing and differing fonts provided an easier reading experience for readers. Headlines showed a separation for each story and fewer stories were included overall on each page.
As computers were introduced to the office, The Battalion staff began writing and designing papers with the use of specialized software applications.
Due to a new off-campus printing agreement with The Huntsville Item, The Battalion started printing the front page in full color. The new printing quality led to designs that weren’t possible before.
1997
2014
2016
2017
The first web editor was hired. Articles and photos were posted on the website regularly. This allowed The Battalion to provide up-to-date news on a more accessible platform.
The Battalion name plate was shortened to “The Batt.” This allowed designers more flexibility in where they could place the nameplate in each page. The shorter nameplate could also be customized to recognize holidays and other occasions.
Reporters were required to create Twitter accounts. Designers started attaching Twitter handles to the bylines of every story.
The name plate returned to “The Battalion.”
FILE
By Anthony Pangonas
Battalion issues from 1923, 1954 and 2018 reflect the changing style in the paper’s 125-year history.
The Tom DeFrank story in his own words Fired Battalion editor recalls his conflict with Rudder administration By Sanna Bhai @BhaiSanna In 1966, Battalion Editor-in-Chief Thomas DeFrank was fired by University President James Earl Rudder. The incident was a landmark moment in The Battalion’s history, and one that prepared DeFrank for his long career in journalism. Rudder had taken charge of Texas A&M in 1958 and ushered in a period of great change for the university. The Corps of Cadets became optional while women and people of color were being admitted for the first time. These transitions caused turmoil among Aggies who did not share Rudder’s vision. Rudder was working to transform the university into a modern research institute, but received backlash from some students and former students. In the spirit of attaining this status, Rudder’s administration took steps to control the flow of information, including what was printed in The Battalion. In 1966, when DeFrank was named editor-in-chief, Rudder made it clear that The Battalion would be an extension of the university and was not allowed to print anything that clashed with A&M’s image. Rudder created a publication board and fired the paper’s advisor. Before this change, The Battalion had gone largely unsupervised by the administration for 79 years. DeFrank, along with the three editors prior to him, held a dim view of these restrictions. “It was a classic censorship struggle between The Batt and the Rudder administration, which thought the student newspaper should be a good news feed for the university and nothing more,” DeFrank
said. “The censorship got worse every year. When I was a sophomore, his agents began yanking columns that they didn’t like. When I was a junior, they started pulling editorials that they disagreed with, and by the time I was a senior they started pulling news stories they didn’t like.” In September of 1966, DeFrank was accused of writing a column that was unfair to the administration. In response, the university inserted its name as editor of The Battalion and placed the word “student” in front of the titles of the remaining editorial staff, including DeFrank and managing editor Lani Prestwood. After news of trouble at The Battalion was published by the Associated Press in Dallas, DeFrank was contacted to comment. He expressed his continuous concern with the censorship from the university, saying, “That is not the way a student newspaper should be run.” DeFrank said this was the final straw that ultimately led Rudder to remove him as editor. DeFrank said he believes the Rudder administration spread the news of what was happening with The Battalion as a tactical plan to push student journalists out of the way. DeFrank said one of Rudder’s staff members, Jim Lindsey, gathered the Battalion’s editors to tell them about the administration’s plans for the paper — and that Lindsey offered the editors a raise to comply or be removed from their positions. According to DeFrank, Lindsey brought the story to the Associated Press himself, knowing that DeFrank would have no choice but to provide a comment and put his job in even greater jeopardy. “Lindsey leaked this story to the AP,” DeFrank said. “Lindsey knew that I would not be able to just say ‘I have no comment on this.’ ... They set us up.”
Once the news of the university censorship came to light, students began to protest. Although DeFrank was thankful for the support, it was too late. Even after being fired, DeFrank continued to voice his opinion throughout campus, calling on Rudder to end censorship. With the hope to change the university’s policies, DeFrank said he encouraged the Southeastern Journalism Forum to reprimand A&M for its oppressive censorship of student journalism. This resulted in a furious administration, and an editorial by The Battalion staff that read, “DeFrank may be a fine student, but he is only trying to hurt Aggies.” Even with protests and criticism from other universities, Rudder remained persistent in his plans for A&M. “Earl Rudder was a one man band, and if you crossed him, you were done for,” DeFrank said. “He ruled with an iron hand, that’s for sure… And I still think Earl Rudder was a great man. He didn’t understand journalism or freedom of speech much, but he was a great man.” Looking back at his years at A&M and the hardships he faced, DeFrank said his conflicts with Rudder made him the journalist he is today. As a contributing editor of The National Journal, DeFrank has covered the administrations of 10 U.S. presidents and received various threats and accolades for his writing. DeFrank said that looking back, he’s grateful for the challenges he faced during his conflict with the A&M administration. “In a left-handed sort of way, I owe General Rudder a debt of gratitude for helping me realize there is life after being screamed at and yelled at as a student editor,” DeFrank said. “What happened with me does not, at the least bit, diminish my affection for Texas A&M. Quite the contrary.”
FILE
Former editor-in-chief Thomas DeFrank speaks at an Aggie Agora event in Rudder Tower in 2016.
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Sept. 30, 1966 Editor Thomas DeFrank and two of his assistants are officially removed from their positions on the paper by the A&M Student Publications Board. Officially, the board removed them because they ran an unsigned letter to the editor. However, DeFrank said the dismissal was due to The Battalion’s criticism of the administration’s slowness in forming a campus political forum, which would provide an avenue for students to discuss political issues and invite political figures to speak.
Summer 1975
Spring 1976
James Breedlove was accepted by the Student Publications Board as the new editor-in-chief. A newcomer with no previous experience at The Battalion, the staff was resentful of Breedlove. Problems grew and a large turnover began. Breedlove resigned in the spring of 1976 from continuing problems with the staff.
ANGELIQUE GAMMON
The Battalion and the journalism department at A&M begin to work together. The paper became a part of the lab requirement for intermediate journalism classes. Bob Rogers, chairman of the Student Publications Board, was instrumental in the change.
ROB CLARK
Summer 1978
1977 dp first appears in The Battalion. Drawn by Dr. Donald Powell, dp was a sports editorial cartoon that continued to run in The Battalion until the early 1990s, when Powell took the comic to The Eagle.
TRUE BROWN
Debby Krenek becomes the first female editor-in-chief to serve a full term at The Battalion.
MATTHEW WATKINS
1985 “Cadet Slouch” stops running. It is the longest-running Battalion cartoon.
KALEE CASTANON
How student journalism shaped lives of former Batt staffers Alumni share how their time as reporters guided their careers By Hannah Falcon @hannahfalcon_ In the century and a quarter that The Battalion has been serving Texas A&M, generations of reporters, photographers and editors have passed through the newsroom. Former Battalion staffers all share an affinity for telling stories and many still use those storytelling skills in their jobs today. Although they all started at the same publication, former Battalion staffers have taken many different paths after graduation. An entrepreneur sharing her wisdom Angelique Gammon, Class of 1982, came to Texas A&M with the aid of a basketball scholarship. Although she entered college as an engineering major, Gammon discovered her passion for writing after taking journalism electives. “I didn’t come here to be a journalism major, but I ended up in a journalism class and I really felt like it was a better fit for me and then I started taking more classes,” Gammon said. “From there I moved to a part-time job at The Battalion doing reporting.” After climbing the ranks at The Battalion, Gammon became the editor-in-chief in the summer of 1981 and held that position until her graduation in the spring of 1982. Gammon then went to work for Insite printing and publishing in Bryan. Using the skills she learned in the student newsroom, Gammon was the premiere editor for Insite magazine, a Bryan-College Station lifestyle magazine. Gammon later bought out the printing and publishing company with her husband, Greg Gammon. “When students ask what made it possible for me to be a successful businesswoman who also was publisher of a magazine… I think that The Battalion is absolutely key foundational skills because it’s really the only other job I ever had prior to being self-employed,” Gammon said. Once Gammon and her husband were ready to sell the business, she decided to reach out to her alma mater about further career opportunities. “Five years ago, I contacted Dale Rice, who was head of the journalism department,” Gammon said. “I said ‘I only have a bachelor’s
degree, but I’ve been doing the same kinds of things in journalism for 30 years. Would there be something that I might be able to do in terms of teaching?’” She started teaching part time at A&M, and in January 2018, she left Insite to work full time as an instructional assistant professor for journalism studies.
a sports writer to editor-in-chief over a few years period. It became what I did.” Post graduation, Brown’s first job was at the 12th Man Foundation. “I think all of us have a lot of people who have affected our lives and helped get us to where we are now,” Brown said. “I was fortunate enough, through my time at The Battalion, to make some great connections with people who eventually helped me get my first job after college at the 12th Man Foundation. I got that job largely because I was a Battalion sports writer.” Brown said his journalism skills helped him fundraise for the 12th Man Foundation. “I’ve worked around A&M my whole career,” Brown said. “I was director of communications, so I was using that Battalion experience over there too. I worked on a couple of different magazines that the 12th Man has produced and I got to interact with a lot of donors, student-athletes and coaches and tell their story through our magazines.” Now, Brown is the director of development for the Texas A&M Foundation. “I’ve got the coolest job in the world because I get to call on former students of all ages and go visit them wherever they live, wherever they work and talk to them about Texas A&M,” Brown said. “I spend about three days a week on the road, going to meet with people and trying to educate them and convince them to give back to Texas A&M.”
A dedicated editor with a passion for special projects Rob Clark, Class of 1996, said he learned early on in his college career that he wanted to be a journalist. After switching his major from business to journalism, Clark sought a position at The Battalion. “I actually didn’t get on the first time I tried,” Clark said. “I wanted to be a columnist, but I didn’t get it, so the next semester I applied to be a copy editor and once I got into the door I started trying different things and finding what I liked the most and pursuing that.” Clark wore a lot of hats at The Battalion, including managing editor and editor-in-chief. After graduating, Clark interned at the Houston Chronicle before being hired full time at The Bryan-College Station Eagle. In 1999, Clark started reporting for the Dallas Morning News. “My writing needed improvement when I started,” Clark said. “I started figuring out who I was as a writer and I found that I enjoyed editing more than I had realized and putting together a package, whether that’s just a feature story, designing a special story or section and the satisfaction that doing a special story can give.” In 2011, Clark was hired back to The Eagle as the special sections editor and later promoted to managing editor in 2018. “My primary role is to support the editor and manage the staff on day-to-day operations, support the reporters and copy editors best I can and I also handle a lot of our special projects,” Clark said. “We publish a quarterly lifestyle magazine and an annual SEC preview magazine and I take the lead on those along with typical web duties.”
A Batt staffer breaking the state’s biggest news Matthew Watkins, Class of 2007, said he was unmotivated when he came to college, but eventually found the inspiration to be a journalist. “I was at a point of my life where I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and I found it hard to get interested in school,” Watkins said. “The Battalion was where I found my passion. I had a lot of fun and met a lot of friends, but really it was what taught me my craft.” The skills he learned at The Battalion and the network it provided opened doors for him while he in college, Watkins said. “I worked at The Battalion for probably a year and a half, but while I was still in school, I met the managing editor of The Eagle at the time and she offered me a job covering night cops,” Watkins said. “I stuck with that. After I graduated in 2008, they hired me on full-time.” Watkins worked at The Eagle for four years
A skilled sports reporter securing A&M’s financial future For True Brown, Class of 2003, The Battalion was the cornerstone of his time at Texas A&M. “It kind of became my purpose in college,” Brown said. “From working my way up from
before he was hired by the Dallas Morning News. In March of 2015, Watkins was hired by the Texas Tribune. Though hi career has taken him many places since graduation, Watkins still remembers his time in The Battalion newsroom fondly. “It’s really cool to have been a part of something that’s been around so long,” Watkins said. “I’m one of those names in a long list of people who [worked at The Battalion], and it’s cool to have been a part of that history.” Watkins is now the breaking news editor at the Texas Tribune. A student media star welcoming all to Aggieland Kalee Castanon, Class of 2011, worked at the Aggieland Yearbook before she applied to The Battalion, where she quickly moved up the ranks. Castanon was editor-in-chief summer of 2009 and research editor in 2011. “I was involved in student media already through the Aggieland yearbook and my mentor, [Robert] Wegener, encouraged me to apply for The Battalion one summer,” Castanon said. “I was really encouraged by him to apply and I never regretted it or looked back.” Castanon said The Battalion taught her communication skills and kindled a lasting passion for the university. “Working at The Battalion, I was able to develop my skills as a writer and my communication skills that I’ve been able to use in every single position that I’ve held,” Castanon said. “It also really helped develop my passion for Texas A&M. While I was working as a writer and an editor, I became very passionate about the future of Texas A&M, writing about the events that changed A&M.” In her current position as the assistant director of visitor experience for Texas A&M, Castanon said she’s always on her toes with new challenges every day. “In my work right now, there is no average day, just because everything is always changing at the visitor center,” Castanon said. “I supervise the tour guides and the student workers at the visitor center and every day comes a new challenge, new visitor, new experiences. I am really passionate about making sure everyone who comes to Texas A&M has a wonderful visit and if they weren’t already 100 percent Aggies before, that they leave wanting to come here as their number one school.”
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The Battalion | 10.3.18
Summer 1991 The Battalion upgrades its computer system with Macintosh and moves to the basement of the Reed McDonald Building. In addition, the paper fully converts to pagination software and laser printers.
1992
Oct. 1, 1993
The Battalion wins the Regional Pacemaker award, making it one of the top 12 college newspapers in the nation.
Nov. 18, 1999
The Battalion enters its second century.
Summer 1997
The Aggie Bonfire stack collapses, killing 12 and injuring 27.
2000 The Battalion partners with CampusEngine.com to create thebatt.com. The site remains the online source for all Battalion content.
The Battalion hires its first web editor and content from the paper starts appearing online.
FEMALE LEADERS IN THE NEWSROOM Former editors reflect on experience of breaking barriers at The Battalion By Kathryn Whitlock @KathrynWhitloc8
PROVIDED
Top: Nadja Pollard was the second female sports editor in The Battalion’s history. Bottom: Former managing editor Katy Stapp and editor-in-chief Sam King display their awards for the 20162017 year.
From a lack of women to women serving as editors-in-chief, The Battalion has notably evolved within the past 125 years. On April 27, 1963, the previously all-male Texas A&M, opened its doors to women. In the spring of 1976, Roxie Hearn served as interim editor for the last month of the semester after James Breedlove stepped down, making her the first woman to hold the position. In the summer of 1978, Debby Krenek became the first woman to serve a full term. Krenek is now the publisher of Newsday, a Pulitzer-prize winning news organization on Long Island. Krenek said all of her spare time at A&M was spent at The Battalion. “I was so honored to be chosen as editor of The Battalion because it had been so much a part of my life at A&M, and I still have lifelong friends from that time,” Krenek said. “It was really a shock though when [advisor] Bob Rogers called me and asked me to be the editor… I feel like that phone call changed the trajectory of my life [and] career, and I will always be grateful to Bob for that.” Diversity in editorial positions is paramount and still needs improving, Krenek said. The praise that came with being the first female editor did not distract her. “I never really thought of myself as the first female editor,” Krenek said. “I was just one of a group of what I considered talented and passionate journalists in training, and the staff I was leading was a staff I had worked side by side with in the years prior.” To get to the bottom of each story is a basic principle for the job of an editor, and The Battalion is known for that, Krenek said. “The core of it all is still the story and getting your sources to tell you the story behind
the story,” Krenek said. “I felt like all the editors of The Battalion at one time or another made tough decisions about publishing stories that weren’t so popular with the administration.” Melissa Nelson, Class of 1985 and The Battalion’s first female sports editor, works as an English teacher in The Woodlands. “I started working with The Battalion my sophomore year and started as a reporter and did some photography,” Nelson said. “I was chosen to be sports editor less for my sports knowledge and more I think for my writing and management ability.” Nelson said diversity in a newsroom and across campus is essential for growth.
“You weren’t a woman, you weren’t a gay person, you weren’t a black person — you were a reporter.” Sam King, 2016-2017 editor-in-chief
“We had a lot of women on our staff, but obviously women being involved is always important,” Nelson said. “The university that we know now would not exist if it remained all men. Admitting women was a great choice that they made all of those years ago.” According to Nelson, the title of first female sports editor is far less important than what she accomplished while in the role. “Honestly, I didn’t know I was the first female sports editor when I took the position,” Nelson said. “When I found out, my reaction was ‘Okay, I’ve got things to do.’ I wasn’t overly impressed by that fact, and I didn’t feel
like it was that significant. I just wanted to do my job and do a good job at it.” Nadja Pollard, Class of 1989 and the second female sports editor and now an information development manager at Idera, a software company in Austin. “I started at The Batt working paste-up, which was the physical process of laying out the paper,” Pollard said. “We’d print out the articles, run them through a machine that put hot wax on the back, and then cut them to fit onto the layout.” Pollard said she never felt that anything was different in the newsroom because she was a female editor. “I picked a good staff and trusted the team while providing them the tools and guidance necessary to do their best,” Pollard said. “It is necessary to encourage women to venture into fields traditionally held by men. I don’t know if I added anything as a woman, but I hope I added something by my viewpoints and dedication. I wasn’t going to let someone tell me ‘no’ because I’m a woman.” Sam King, Class of 2017 and Battalion editor-in-chief for 2016-2017 school year, is now a product management analyst at financial software firm Trintech in Addison. According to King, one of her favorite quotes is from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who says, “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” King said representation is pivotal and necessary in all organizations that serve as the voice of a community. “The Battalion is a little bit of a microcosm to A&M, I think,” King said. “The newsroom always felt like a place where your background and your baggage didn’t matter. You weren’t a woman, you weren’t a gay person, you weren’t a black person — you were a reporter. I hope the legacy I left as a woman at The Battalion is just to make the women who came before me and did have to fight those uphill battles proud.”
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The Battalion | 10.3.18
2003 College of Liberal Arts Dean Charles Johnson announces plans to cut the journalism department, saying the program would be too costly to maintain. The Battalion staff protests, printing a blank page that reads “THE TEXAS A&M ADMINISTRATION’S VISION OF JOURNALISM.” The university officially begins phasing out the department in 2004.
2005 The Battalion and the rest of Student Media move under the Offices of the Dean of Student Life within the Division of Student Affairs. The change includes a relocation from Reed McDonald to The Memorial Student Center basement in 2006.
2009 Student Media moves into temporary buildings in The Grove between Cain Hall and Albritton tower while the MSC is being remodeled.
HISTORY CONTINUED
FILE
1958-1959 editor Joe Buser talks to his staff editors.
FILE
The Battalion first started working on computers in 1977.
FILE
Sports editor Richard Tijerina works on an issue of The Battalion in 1991.
FILE
Paul Wilson works on a cartoon in the Reed McDonald office in 2004.
FILE
Editor-in-chief Megan Rodriguez trains the 2018 fall editoral staff.
2017
being discussed at the time. “The Battalion, in those days, was on the side of change, which created controversy,” Baker said. “It was a collective group on the staff. We felt we should maintain and respect the traditions but also encourage change.” Seeing the future In 1954, The Battalion was being published four times a week during the fall and spring terms and two times a week during examinations, vacation periods and summer terms. By 1955, the Student Publications Board had become responsible for establishing the general policies concerning student publications. The board was also responsible for choosing the editor of the paper. “Being editor of The Battalion was a highly prized campus job,” said Joe Buser, editor of The Battalion in 1958-59. “The editor was just as well known as the Corps Commander. The editor was known by most students and faculty.” At the time, the College was preparing itself for the 21st century, Buser said. J. Earl Rudder, who was to become the A&M president in 1959, had just come to A&M in 1958 and took over the duties of vice president. Rudder envisioned that A&M would become a great place to train leaders, Buser said. “Some of the plans were revealed to The Battalion because I was fortunate enough to be in his presence when those plans were revealed,” Buser said. While The Battalion staff was busy following up leads and writing stories, they still maintained their normal load of schoolwork and activities. “The editorial staff, comprised mainly of members of the Corps, had to be commended for staying up late to put out the paper and still making formation before 8 a.m.,” Buser said. “The newsroom became known as the ‘Batt Cave’ and the staff as the ‘Battmen’ because The Battalion officers were located in the basement of the YMCA Building and the staff only operated at night.” Times start to change As the 1960s rocked their way into College Station, The Battalion covered major changes beginning to affect the A&M campus. Reporters pounded out stories on their typewriters as the College was about to achieve university status, a name change was being proposed and a movement to admit women began. Tumultuous times continued on the campus and in the world as the 1960s progressed. The College became a University. The all-male A&M went co-ed, the Corps became non-compulsory and the school started admitting black students. The Vietnam War exploded on the international scene, and President Kennedy was assassinated. The Battalion and the administration clashed over coverage on a number of issues. Glen Dromgoole said one of the biggest problems that stood out to him was an incident concerning Johnny Cash and Bonfire. The administration canceled a Cash performance at Bonfire after Cash had been arrested in El Paso and charged with smuggling and concealing drugs. The Battalion staff editorialized that the administration was convicting Cash without a trial, Dromgoole said. “That issue really got to the administration and put us at odds for the rest of the year,” he said. “We were not under the journalism department. We thought we reported directly to God. The administration thought they were the publisher of the paper.” Dromgoole said The Battalion did not have much anti-war sentiment to cover on campus. The biggest concern was over the admittance of women to the university. When Dromgoole left the paper, he and other members of his staff presented a 17-page “State of The Battalion” report to Rudder, the then president of A&M. “We knew no bounds to our audacity,” Dromgoole said. DeFrank vs Rudder The tense situation between the administration and The Battalion did not improve the following year. Tom DeFrank, who had worked as Dromgoole’s managing editor, took over the position of editor in 1966-67.
2016 The Battalion receives the College Media Association’s 2015-2016 Pinnacle Award for best daily newspaper at a four-year school.
The Battalion’s first-ever Maroon Life magazine is distributed to Aggies at their New Student Conferences.
Oct. 1, 2018 The Battalion turns 125 years old.
On Sept. 30, 1966, the A&M Student Publications Board officially removed DeFrank and two of his assistants from their positions on the paper. Jim Lindsey, chairman of the board, said he felt the action was necessary because continued policy disagreement could only result in further harm to The Battalion, according to a Battalion article on Oct. 7, 1966. Changing spaces As the 1960s gave way to the 1970s, The Battalion moved to new offices in the Reed McDonald Building. Changes continued to catch up with the university, and The Battalion continued reporting on these changes in spite of opposition from the administration. “We covered the war and what was going on [at] other campuses,” said Dave Mayes, editor of The Battalion in 1969-70. “Here the students gathered in front of the Academic Building and had debates among themselves in groups. The administration then didn’t like to see those kinds of things going on.” Dissension struck the newsroom in the school year of 1975-76. James Breedlove, a journalism student who had never worked for The Battalion, was appointed to editor. This went against university regulations, which specified that candidates for Battalion editor must have worked on the paper for a year. The staff considered Breedlove an outsider. In the fall semester, several editors quit and others were fired. At one point, Breedlove fired his staff, retaining only the editors. The firing was reviewed, and three reporters were rehired. Before his tenure was completed, Breedlove resigned. In his absence, Roxie Hearn served as interim editor for the last month of the semester, making her the paper’s first female editor. In the spring of 1976, The Battalion and the journalism department began to work together. The paper used journalism students as reporters, editors and photographers to supplement the paper’s paid staff. Bob Rogers, then-chairman of the Student Publications Board, was instrumental in this change. New times As the 1970s wound down, the Gay Student Services Organization created a lot of stories for Lee Leschper, editor of The Battalion in summer of 1977. In summer of 1978, Debby Krenek became the first woman to serve a full term as editor of The Battalion. Krenek went on to win a Pulitzer Prize as editor of a project with the New York Daily News and is currently the publisher of Newsday on Long Island. Kim Tyson followed her as editor of The Battalion in the 1978-79 school year and then came Karen Rogers (summer 1979) and Liz Newlin (fall of 1979). In the fall of 1986, Cathie Anderson became the first African-American student named editor of The Battalion. Anderson went on to work for the Detroit News, The Dallas Morning News and the Sacramento Bee. More improvements By 1984, a new computer system was installed and The Battalion editorial board began writing daily editorials. In the fall of 1991, The Battalion switched to the Apple Macintosh computer system. After the 100th anniversary of The Battalion, the Former Journalism Students’ Association was born. Many members of The Battalion and those who have worked in Student Media at Texas A&M have been inducted into the FJSA Hall of Honor. Currently there are 20 members, including DeFrank and Krenek. In the fall of 1996, The Battalion started printing the front page in full color every day. This was possible because of a new off-campus printing agreement with The Huntsville Item. The five-unit Goss Community Press housed in the printing center on campus was transferred to the Instructional Printing Facility at Texas A&M-Commerce. The printing quality of the Huntsville press made it possible to do things with design that were not possible with the capabilities of the campus press. The rest of the 1990s and the turn of the century brought about many changes to The Battalion. In the summer of 1997, The Battalion hired its first web editor as news from the printed paper transitioned to online content. In the spring of 1999, the supervisory board for student publications was still called the Stu-
dent Publications Board, but the board voted unanimously to change the name to the Student Media Board. At that time, the news advisor of The Battalion was added to the board as a non-voting member. The Battalion and its new website were a goto news source when the Bonfire stack fell on Nov. 18, 1999, killing 12 Aggies and injuring 27. Other media outlets around the state and the nation used photos and stories from The Battalion. The Battalion’s work on that terrible night and in the days that followed was widely praised by the Department of Journalism and by journalists around the state. In the fall of 2000, The Battalion partnered with CampusEngine.com and thebatt.com was officially born. Before then, the University’s IT department had hosted The Battalion’s content. The website has changed host sites a few times since then, and it currently works with TownNews.com, an industry leader that hosts many other college newspapers and small newspapers around the country. The next big change for The Battalion came from 2004 to 2006 as the university phased out the Department of Journalism. After the program was officially closed, The Battalion moved under the Offices of the Dean of Student Life within the Division of Student Affairs. That also required a physical move out of Reed McDonald and to the lower level of the Memorial Student Center. Not long after moving into the new space, The Battalion relocated once again in 2009, taking up temporary residence in The Grove between Cain Hall and Albritton tower while the MSC was being renovated. The paper was produced in a portable building until 2012 when the MSC reopened. Breaking News In November 2015, Battalion reporter Spencer Davis’ three-part series, “A Dark Spot in Texas A&M’s Investments,” attracted national attention. Davis’ reporting revealed that the University of Texas Investment Management Company — which handles billions of dollars of endowment funds for the A&M and UT systems — was invested in 10 of 25 companies linked to genocide in Sudan. The series received the University of Georgia’s Betty Gage Holland Award for excellence in college journalism. In late November and early December of 2016, The Battalion found itself at the center of a national controversy yet again, as news editor Chevall Pryce broke the news that white supremacist Richard Spencer was planning a speech in the Memorial Student Center. Pryce was named reporter of the year by the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association for his coverage of Spencer’s speech and the ensuing protests on campus. Also during the fall 2016 semester, The Battalion started rolling off the presses closer to campus, thanks to a new printing agreement with The Bryan-College Station Eagle. That same year, the paper dropped from five print editions per week down to four, and then down to three in the fall of 2017 as The Battalion continued wrestling with the same financial pressures faced by newspapers across the nation. To provide a different style of print product for readers and advertisers, The Battalion staff produced the first edition of their Maroon Life magazine in the spring of 2017. Under the Maroon Life label, the staff has published fall and spring sports previews, housing guides, restaurant reviews and The New Aggies Guide to Aggieland — a crash course on traditions and campus life for incoming freshmen. Throughout all of the changes, The Battalion has maintained its mission to cover Texas A&M and the community. That’s the primary goal, but The Battalion also exists to provide students with real-life job skills in writing, editing, photography, graphic design, page design, web design and leadership skills. Staff members work as a team to produce informative daily content for the students, staff, faculty and graduates of Texas A&M. Adapted from articles by Mary Kujawa, writing for The Battalion’s 100th anniversary, and The Byline, a former publication by the Department of Journalism.
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