Some Hunter-L Nostalgia As We Head into the Perils of 2016 …

Hunter-L is a primary listserv for inter-community information at Hunter College, City University of New York. The listserv use to be robust. Dynamic. Inclusive. Opened to students. But like a lot of things at Hunter, it has waned over the last five years, dumbed down by the Powers That Be who embrace the insipid.

… Or What #D:F/M Absolutely Fracked Up!

From: Greggory w Morris
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2014 1:31 PM
To: HUNTER-L@HUNTER.LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Wooly Bully – Internship Nostalgia (Psalm 23:4)

For Students: BPEF Trade Publications Deadline
(Note: Trade publications, despite journalism’s evolving business and editorial landscape, is still used by some journalists as a portal to enter so-called mainstream news organizations despite the many layoffs.)

Once Upon a Time …

… “Hunter,” via the Envoy, before its debauching by SLAM/USG (with collegial support), ranked first, second, third over three years in Business Press Education Foundation competitions involving 60-70 colleges and universities whose j-students were competing for trade publication paid internships with, but not limited to, the crème de la crème: Billboard, Variety, Aviation Week, Broadcast & Cable News, Advertising Age, et. al. Lots more.

In fact, an informal but significant connection developed with Billboard, so close that for several years music aficionados with journalistic chops and Envoy clips snared internships in Billboard’s NYC office ($15 an hour for at least 20 hours of work a week, though some students didn’t like starting out in the mailroom). Musically inclined H-students, with clips, of course, didn’t have to compete in the regular trade publication competition. The informal networking relationship with Billboard was that strong. Later, though not as potent, WORD clips helped keep the relationship alive for a while after the debauching of the Envoy.

At a Baruch College BPEF/Trade Publication fête, five Hunter students were awash in oohhs and aahhs when they were introduced as BPEF award winners. The closest competition at that fête was Baruch, with two internships. “What’s going on at Hunter,” were the words out of the mouth of the MC in charge of the fête. Hunter’s reign petered out to two internships per competition, subsequently dropping to the lower ranks, or thereabouts, until the inevitable.

(Before the inevitable, former BPEF Internship Director Phyllis Reed, whose fondness for Hunter students was extraordinary, kept a keen eye out for Students of Color. Especially bi-lingual*).

There were modest successes with the American Society of Magazine Editors [The 2014 deadline has passed]. With other organizations as well. Etcetera. Successes? That’s in regard to relationships with news operations to help keep the doors open for the next students coming down the pipeline.

Until the inevitable, of course.

G Morris
D:F/M
Psalm 23:4

*So did the now defunct New York Community Media Alliance which, until its demise, plowed the Hunter campus for its pool of multi-lingual speaking students. The pay as translators [as much as $40 per hour] helped several students, most not in D:F/M, deal with the costs of their education, so I was told. Hunter now has a very feeble connection with ethnic news organizations.

newcolleague-gone

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