The beat that I want to focus on this semester is something I call the campus life beat. This may seem like a vague phrase, but I have a vision for the kind of stories that will fall under this particular beat. The campus life beat is made up of two major factors: the campus of WSU, and the students who provide the heart and soul of this campus. Likewise, the types of stories that fall under this beat have to do with changes around campus (buildings, events, and other tangible things), as well as stories about the student population. These kinds of stories can be social issues, rallies, public opinion, reactions to university decisions, or any number of other things that may have a grasp on the student body's attention. In essence, if it happens on campus, it could be a part of my beat.
The topics on this beat will be fast-moving and ever-changing, much as the larger news world does the same in our social media-fueled world of information. Last semester, I would have pursued a story about Wake Up WSU, the localized focal point on the larger topic of race relations and police violence. In the 1980s, Cold War stories would have fit on the beat, particularly if anxiety or worry rippled throughout the student body over the latest moves from the Soviets. Some of the upcoming issues could be how students might vote in the 2016 election, long-time students reacting to the decisions made by interim president Dan Bernardo in a post-Elson Floyd WSU, and a look at how the campus could change in the next few years via construction.
My beat does not exist in a vacuum by any means. With a very broad scope, the other beats that could overlap with my beat are health, campus safety, crime, athletics, education, and economics, just to name a few. While each of these beats exists independently, I can draw anything that overlaps from those beats into how the students on campus are affected by these other beats. On the campus life beat, there exists a certain flexibility to either follow the actions on campus, or the little pieces of the campus that go home with students and professors when they return to their apartments and houses every day. Each of these people are part of campus for at least some of their day, and their voices should be heard in the scope of current events that may occur in the near future.
Story Ideas
- WSU Police's most common crime of the new school year. Taking a look at a story like this would show what kinds of things the campus police have to deal with most frequently and what the students need to know about the local laws. I see this as more of a political/criminal story, but it could also fit the trend story motif.
- New students adjusting to first semester away from home. I see this story as a profile/feature type of story, focusing on the life of one student in the context of the experience virtually all students share when coming to WSU in their freshmen year.
- How students with breathing problems cope with poor air quality. This idea is definitely inspired by the recent wildfire situation that saw a lot of smoke come into Pullman. The concept here is to work off the wildfire news and localize it to students who had to climb up the famously tall hills on campus while facing very poor air quality, a double whammy that many likely never have experience before.
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/news/article_e1464f3e-503b-11e5-8548-ffb3c5aad180.html
This story, about the summer renovations at the CUB and the process of Cougarfication is a prime example of the type of story that would be on my beat. It ties into the hopes that students had for the CUB, as well as changes at a major building on campus that thousands of students go through every day.
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/news/article_4352c452-4c6b-11e5-bd6f-c3c09fee1368.html
This is another story that really fits the essence of campus life. Elson Floyd, the university's president who died over the summer, played a major role. While not directly interacting with students all the time, the decisions he and other officials made had an impact on the university. Students cared enough to show up to his memorial, so this story fits my beat pretty well because it matters to the students and it impacts their lives.
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/news/article_5a7493da-ed3f-11e4-a0d5-83dfed930db4.html
Here's a story that would dip more into the crime realm, but also has an effect on campus life. Students should know what laws they are subject to as members of a federal land-grant university, and also what rights they have as students. Stories like this one are more of an awareness/public interest thing than an uncovering of little-known situations, but again, it affects students on campus, so it's a part of campus life.
Potential sources
- Robert Tattershall, Director of Housing and Conference Services 509-335-7732
- Salman Ibrahim, RA 253-277-1555
- Brittany Griffin, Residential Education Director 509-335-1227
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