Kansas State Collegian

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Kansas State Collegian
Type Student newspaper
Format broadsheet

Owner Kansas State University
Founded 1896
Headquarters Manhattan, Kansas
OCLC 9453357

Website: http://www.kstatecollegian.com

The Kansas State Collegian is the official daily student-run newspaper of Kansas State University. Founded in 1896, the Collegian is the eighth largest daily publication in the state of Kansas with a circulation of 11,500.

[edit] History

The inaugural edition of the student newspaper at K-State, then known as the Students' Herald, was published in 1896. The school became the first college or university in the United States to offer a four-year course in printing in 1910 with its industrial journalism curriculum.

During World War II, the paper was reduced from a broadsheet to a tabloid and was published once a week on the campus press. In 1946, the paper returned to its former size and was published on the presses of the Manhattan Mercury-Chronicle. The frequency and size of the paper changed again in 1949, when a Cox-O Type press was installed in the basement of Kedzie Hall and the Collegian went from a semi-weekly broadsheet to a daily tabloid-sized publication. In 1966, a 50,000 Cottrell web offset press was installed.

Kansas State acquired the first computerized editing equipment in a Kansas newsroom and among the first four in a U.S. university in 1972, when student publications direction Bill Brown persuaded the board to purchase two Hendrix editing display terminals. An upgrade to punched tape typesetting equipment followed in 1982 with the installation of a Compugraphic Trendsetter. Another Trendsetter was added in 1983 and the Collegian changed to broadsheet format.

Laser typesetting came to the paper in 1987, when an Apple LaserWriter Plus and Linotronic 100 replaced the Trendsetters.

1992
Under the direction of Adviser Ron Johnson, the paper started down the road to full pagination in January, when Student Senate funded a half-million dollar purchase of Macintosh computer equipment.

1994
Kelly Campbell and Ryan Korte, the Collegian network administrators, were among he original creators of the online version of the Collegian. The first eCollegian edition appeared in the summer, becoming only the third college newspaper to publish daily on the Web.

1995
The privilege fee continuation resulted in an upgrade of computers to PowerMacs, and printing services purchased a machine that allowed the pages to print straight to film, improving color and reproduction quality. The Electronic Collegian also won first place in content in the Associate Collegiate Press' Best of the Net competition in Washington, D.C.

1999
The Collegian accepted the bid of the Salina Journal to print the Collegian on its presses, allowing the Collegian to go four-color, five days a week, for the first time.

2003
The Collegian renewed its agreement with the Salina Journal. Meanwhile, the historic press machine in the basement of Kedzie is dismantled and removed.

2006
By summer 2006, the Collegian officially signs on and launches its Web site with the popular newspaper journalism program, College Publisher. During that summer, the Collegian launched its first-ever online video content.

2007
The Collegian continued pressing forward with its Web site, and by summer 2007, had began hiring in-house staff members who focused on video editing. By July, the Collegian had also established an online e-mail subscription service, message board/forum system and interactive university calendar.
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[edit] Collegian Controversy

In 2004, Kansas State University fires adviser Ron "Big" Johnson for the "declining quality" of the newspaper. The firing is largely perceived as a response to a controversy involving the Black Student Union. The lawsuit resulting from the firing was dismissed in the summer of 2007. Johnson was hired as the director of student media at Indiana University in summer 2008.

[edit] References