Columbia Daily Spectator

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Columbia Daily Spectator
The front page of the Columbia Daily Spectator on April 17, 2006
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner Independent
Founded 1877
Headquarters New York, New York
Website: www.columbiaspectator.com

The Columbia Daily Spectator is the daily newspaper, written by Columbia University undergraduates, servicing the university community and the neighborhood of Morningside Heights. It is published in the Spectator Building at 112th and Broadway in New York, New York. Founded in 1877, it is the second-oldest continually operating college news daily in the nation, after The Harvard Crimson, and has been financially independent of the university since 1962. It is printed weekdays during the academic term. In addition to serving as a campus newspaper, the Spec, as it is commonly known, also reports the latest news of the surrounding Morningside Heights community. The paper is delivered each day to over 150 locations throughout the Morningside Heights neighborhood and counts a readership of over 10,000.

Contents

[edit] Organization

Spectator's writing departments, each headed by an editor, include campus news, city news, sports, arts and entertainment, and opinion. The other non-writing departments, also headed by their own repective editors, include new media, production, copy, and business. The business department, which oversees the newspaper's advertising and finances, is headed by the publisher.

The Spec is currently run by the 130th managing board. First-time writers at Columbia begin their time at the paper with a 1- to 2-month trial period, during which they learn the basics of writing an article and publish their first articles. At some point, when their department editor sees fit, they become staff writers. Each November and December, students run for positions at the paper, a grueling process that takes nearly a month. They begin by "shadowing," or sitting with the current editors or associate editors and learning the editing process. Next they write proposals for their desired position. The students then take an editing test made up by their department editor that tests them on the fundamentals of editing. Finally, they go through the "Turkey Shoot," an interview in which the current managing board grills the applicant on why he feels he would be a good fit for the position. The results of the application process, including the new managing board are announced in mid-December, the weekend before finals.

[edit] Recent spinoffs

In 2005, the Spec started printing La Página, a weekly flyer in Spanish with translations of some of the week's English content most relevant to neighborhood readers.

The next year, in February 2006, the paper launched a series of blogs, aptly named SpecBlogs. They were the third Ivy League paper to do this, after the Harvard Crimson 's Sports Blog (December 2005) and The Daily Pennsylvanian 's TheBuzz (January 2006). SpecBlogs, however, soon became defunct. Another blogging effort, launched in October 2006 to cover the 2006 midterm elections, proved more successful.

In September 2006, Spectator staff launched The Eye, a weekly magazine featuring investigative pieces and commentary on Columbia and New York City. The name of The Eye relates both to the fact that one "spectates" with it and urban theorist Jane Jacobs' notion that "eyes on the street" help keep neighborhoods safe. The magazine is appropriately subtitled "Columbia on the Street".

[edit] Spec Alumni

Spectator front page during the 1968 Columbia protests
Enlarge
Spectator front page during the 1968 Columbia protests

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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