Fordham Observer

The Observer

Cover of The Observer (January 24, 2019), highlighting the impact of the federal government shutdown on students.
Type	Bi-weekly student newspaper
Format	Berliner
Founded	1981; 43 years ago (1981)
Headquarters	113 W. 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023
Circulation	2,000
Website	www.fordhamobserver.com
Free online archives	Archives

The Observer is the student newspaper of the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham University.

It is published in print bi-weekly when the university is in session by a staff of more than 50 students.^[1] Content is also published online on a more frequent basis. Based at Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan, The Observer’s circulation also reaches Fordham’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, making it available to all students in the university’s undergraduate colleges and graduate schools.^[2]

History

The first copy of the newspaper was published in November of 1981. Mitch Berger served as the founding editor-in-chief of the newspaper, and its inaugural advisor was Dr. Elizabeth Stone.^[3]

The Observer is Lincoln Center’s fourth student-run newspaper. The first was The Curved Horn that was brought over from Rose Hill when the Lincoln Center campus was established in 1968. Two other papers, The Review and Evex were started up.^[4] By 1981, all three had folded, and The Observer emerged as the school's sole student publication.^[5] In 2016 the Communication and Media Studies department, which originally housed the newspaper, chose to remove all financial and curricular support from The Observer. This action led to an alumni campaign, a "Save The Observer" Facebook page and a letter signed by 115 alumni protesting the decision, which was seen as sudden and harmful to the diversity within the newspaper.^[6][7] As of 2022, The Observer has club status and is housed within the Office for Student Involvement.^[8]

Notable alumni

• Jane McGonigal, American game designer and author^[9]
• Naima Coster, Pushcart Prize-nominee who contributed essays to The Observer, and whose debut novel "Halsey Street" was originally excerpted in the publication^[10]
• John Cummings, Republican candidate for the House of Representatives who unsuccessfully ran against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the 2020 general elections and wrote sports articles for The Observer^[11][12]

Awards

In 2019, The Observer won the First Place award in the Best of Show category from the Associated Collegiate Press for a less-than-weekly newspaper at a four year school.^[13]

The Observer won a College Online Pacemaker award from the ACP in 2013 and 2020, and was a finalist in 2010 and 2012.^[14][15] It was ranked as the eighth best college newspaper in the country, along with The Fordham Ram, in 2015 by the Princeton Review (The Review does not specify the publication, only the school).^[16] In 2021, The Observer was listed as a "Great College Newspaper," again along with The Fordham Ram by the Princeton Review.^[17]

The paper has in the past decade won numerous awards, including more than a dozen "story of the year" awards in several categories from the New York Press Association Better Newspaper contest and the American Scholastic Press Association.^[18]

References

1. "Staff". The Observer. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
2. "About the Observer". Retrieved 2019-02-25.
3. SARMIENTO, MARIELLE (2021-05-10). "Tribute to Mitch Berger". The Observer. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
4. "Fordham University Libraries Digital Collections". www.library.fordham.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
5. "At Lincoln Center, Celebrating Four Decades of Award-Winning Student Journalism". Fordham Newsroom. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
6. KOZUB, SOPHIE. "CMS Cuts Ties with The Observer: Alumni Voice Support". The Observer. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
7. KOZUB, SOPHIE. "CMS Cuts Ties with The Observer: The State of Student Journalism". The Observer. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
8. M, Linder Tia. "Lincoln Center Student Organizations". www.fordham.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
9. "Fordham University Libraries Digital Collections". www.library.fordham.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
10. COSTER, NAIMA. "Halsey Street, An Excerpt From A Novel". The Observer. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
11. Laviola, Erin (2019-07-17). "John Cummings: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
12. "Fordham University Libraries Digital Collections". www.library.fordham.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
13. "The Observer Wins Top Best of Show Honors at Journalism Convention". Fordham Newsroom. 2019-03-05. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
14. "ACP - 2013 Online Pacemaker". Retrieved 2021-06-06.
15. "ACP - 2020 Online Pacemaker Awards". Retrieved 2021-07-29.
16. "Fordham Ranked 8th in Princeton Review's Newspaper Category". The Fordham Ram. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
17. "Great College Newspaper | The Princeton Review". www.princetonreview.com. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
18. "Awards". The Observer. Retrieved 2021-06-06.