Hoya staffers have lately been flooding basketball games, Red Square and Facebook with appeals to “Save the Hoya,” without specifying who the Hoya needs to be saved from. While the Hoya deserves support, the campaign is inaccurate at best and disingenuous at worst.
The Hoya is not in danger of extinction: administrators have proved amenable to the newspaper becoming independent under a new name, or continuing to exist as a University-owned paper called the Hoya.
“Save the Hoya” suggests that the paper is under threat of being squashed by administrators, when really its only problem is whether it can keep its name if it casts off Georgetown’s ownership.
The most oft-cited justifications for going independent and keeping their name are protecting credibility and journalistic integrity. These are worthwhile goals that are best protected by becoming independent, but they are not the only ones driving the Hoya.
An under-discussed reason for the Hoya’s independence push is a desire for more money. The Hoya made $107,000 dollars last year, but only kept $37,000, according to Michael Masterson (MSB, ’08), the Hoya’s business director. “Right now we don’t have an incentive to turn a profit,” Alex Schank (COL, ’08), the chair of the Hoya’s Board of Directors, said.
It’s reasonable for the Hoya to want to keep its profits, but it shouldn’t present its motivations as journalistic integrity alone.
The Hoya is considering accepting $10,000 from the Corp and more money from the Student Association to help its independence movement, but it should reject the offers. Part of the point of the Hoya becoming an independent newspaper is to be free from organizations it reports on, not transfer control from the University to student groups the paper will be expected to report on honestly.
Ideally, the Hoya will become independent with its finances and its name intact. Doing so will require student support, something the Hoya won’t get if it continues to mislead students and accept ethically questionable contributions.
