MISSION COLLEGE : Word Gets Around Via Newsletter

Lacking a campus newspaper for more than a year, student leaders at Mission College have started their own monthly newsletter.

Meanwhile, college administrators are attempting to recruit a new journalism instructor with the hope of restarting the student newspaper. Mission is the only one of nine campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District without a campus newspaper.

Student leaders began distributing a four-page newsletter called “Student Talk” aimed at informing students about campus issues last week. It is the first student-produced news source since the “Free Spirit” campus newspaper closed in 1990 because of limited enrollment.

“We’re long overdue,” said Farah Mitil, 18, freshman editor of the newsletter. “We need one because students don’t really know what’s going on.”

The first issue contained articles and editorials about a spring semester student health fee, shared governance and censorship. It also announced campus activities such as free HIV testing, blood drives and a winter dance. Advertising came from local businesses.

Organizers hope the newsletter will increase enrollment in the Associated Students Organization, which costs $7 a semester. The student organization sponsors commencement, dances, clubs and other student activities, some of which do not require membership for participation.

About 300 of the college’s nearly 8,000 students belong to the organization.

Only days after it was released, the first newsletter received a positive response from many students. Some even said it could get them more involved in campus issues.

“I want to know what’s going on,” said Crissy Ropati, 18, a freshman. “Maybe I can help in some way.”

Other students said they hope the newsletter will draw more students to campus events. Jorge Martinez, 17, a third baseman on the school’s baseball team, said many students don’t even know there is such a team.

“It would be great if they publicized our games,” he said. “It would be, like, more support.”

As student leaders plan their next newsletter, college officials are recruiting a part-time journalism instructor to begin teaching classes this spring.

They hope the new instructor will restart the “Free Spirit,” but said they see no conflict with the newsletter.

“We have a brand-new, beautiful campus. We have all sorts of new things going on. It’s hard to understand any large campus without a campus newspaper,” said Gerald Scheib, a faculty leader.