Since 1932, The Quad has provided the students, staff and faculty of West Chester University with both on- and off-campus news. This Tuesday, that legacy ends. The issue distributed on April 5, 2005, will be the last.The Quad, originally titled Quad Angles, has suffered great finicial loss over the course of the 2004-2005 academic year. Due to low readership, sales of advertising space have reached an all-time low, and the organization can no longer afford printing or the editors’ remarkably high salaries.
To what sources the plummet in readership is due can only be speculated. Kelli Snyder, Editor in Chief, suspects that this decline is due to the sophisticated level in reporting, coupled with the drop in college-level vocabularly. “Our reporting is on a level that the average West Chester student is not able to comprehend,” said Snyder. She then corrected herself and said, “Maybe I should say ‘get.’ I know ‘comprehend’ is a hard one.”
Other editors have varying suspicions as to the cause of their unemployment. Lauren Beley, Features Editor, hopes that she is not to blame. “I know that it probabably wasn’t the wisest move refusing to cover student organizations’ events, but that would just be too much work. Besides, if you gave one student organization free publicity, then you’d have to do it for all of them. Who has time for that?” said Beley.
While Beley admits partial blame, Asst. Sports Editor Amy Larson wants no part of it. “I think the reason no one reads the paper is because of the Forum Section. It’s right in the midde and it just makes everyone mad. Who really wants to read three people’s opinions about the exact same thing every week?” asked Larson.
Lauren Bissinger, News Editor, said that she supports the idea of discontinuing the publication. “The constant barrage of insults is just too much. I’m sorry I can’t spell, but I’m dyslexic. I never thought that West Chester University would be a place that would penialize me for for having a disability, but I was wrong,” said Bissinger.
Allison Stull, Asst. Entertainment Editor, was saddened by the news.
“How will I meet famous people without my Quad connections?” she asked. “And what will I do with all of my spare time now? Everyone knows that The Quad editors have no lives. I’d even sleep here if I could,” Stull added.
Students had mixed reactions to the news. Cherry Blossom, a second-year political science major, said, “Without The Quad’s Beyond WCU page, how will I ever stay current on national and even international news?”
Kwame Mufasa, a first-year undeclared student, said, “I’ll miss The Quad. Finding all the spelling mistakes keeps me from falling asleep in class. That could keep me busy for hours.”
Fifth-year English major Wendy Lilycrap was happy to hear the news. “I’m so sick of reading boring stories every week. I mean, if students would do something interesting once in awhile, it would be different. Maybe the school should start a tabloid instead. I think students would much rather read about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton’s sexual escapades,” said Lilycrap.
Journalism Professor Charles Bauerlein was also supportive of the desicion to discontinue The Quad. “That piece of crap? I’m surprised it lasted this long,” he said.