Structural changes are taking place within The University News in the wake of events that took place at the end of last semester.

In accordance with the new charter of The University News, a newspaper production adviser has been hired to provide professional assistance to its staff. The new adviser, Jason L. Young, will work full-time during the week to facilitate the production process.

Young, who has written for both small newspapers and major dailies like The New York Times, began his journalism career with The Maneater at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“I wanted to be able to give back what I have learned to students, so they too can enjoy the wonderful world of being a journalist, but more importantly the experience of being part of a well-run and quality student organization,” Young said.

Young hopes to produce a “stronger newspaper overall” through assisting with fact-checking, reporting, financial proficiency and other areas pertaining to The University News.

Additionally, he stressed a determination to prove his support for the students.

“I want to make sure that The University News staff understands that I am their advocate first and foremost,” Young said. “When you bring somebody new in, especially when that person is seen as an agent of the administration, it can be very difficult for people to believe that we’re all working toward the same thing.”

The new appointment arose as a result of a series of events that took place in the week preceding finals last semester. The 2006-2007 editorial board was called into a meeting with Vice President of Student Development Kent Porterfield, Ed.D., and Provost Joe Weixlmann, Ph.D., on Monday, April 30, during which the editorial board was informed that the administration had decided to ask the Board of Trustees to vote to rescind the current charter of The University News the following Saturday.

In its place, the administration planned to propose a new charter they had written, though without the knowledge of, or input from, any members of The University News.

On the Wednesday following the announcement, the Student Government Association unanimously passed a resolution urging the Board of Trustees to table the vote to rescind the charter, in order to give administrators and students a chance for open dialogue over the subject. The Board of Trustees agreed to table the vote for ten days, during which the then incoming Editor in Chief Katie Lewis met with Vice President Porterfield and then SGA President-elect Andrew Clifton during finals week to devise a charter that would be acceptable to each party involved.

The new charter differs from the old in a number of ways. The hiring and firing of student editors, a job previously delegated solely to the editor in chief, is now also a responsibility of the vice president of student development. However, while the editor in chief can dismiss based off of an editor’s failure to fulfill their job requirements, editorial board members can only be fired by the vice president on the basis of low academic achievement, behavioral issues and other concerns a student editor in chief does not have access to. Any new hires made by the editor in chief must also be approved by the vice president first. The new charter now defines a different setup of who will serve on the advisory board for The University News as well, which convenes at least twice each fall and spring semester to offer advice on how best to strengthen the newspaper.

Additionally, the charter created two new positions, to be chosen by the office of student development, though with input from The University News: The newspaper production adviser (Young) and a student media coordinator, who will help oversee administrative operations of The University News, but will work primarily with SLU TV and KSLU.

Though this is now the official charter of The University News, Editor in Chief Katie Lewis views it as more of a trial run. Lewis feels that a particular flaw of the charter is the lack of a provision that would prohibit amendments from being introduced in the final weeks of the semester.

“There are still things I’m not satisfied with. [It] is something we will work with and consider revisiting,” said Lewis.

Vice President Porterfield agreed.

“I think it will take us a little time to figure out how things will work best,” he said. “You never really know about something until it’s tested a little bit on the ground; once you actually implement it, it will always look different than when you look at it conceptually . At the end of the year we can look back, and talk about it.”

Chris Grabau, building manager for the Busch Student Center, is currently in the process of hiring the new media coordinator.