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My feed is full of goodbye columns from student journalists.

I always have a complicated reaction when I read them, but this semester, something finally became clear.

The curmudgeon in me: "What value do these columns have to the community or audiences?” The momma bear: “What's the harm in these hardworking students finally just having a few column inches of fun?”

What finally struck me this year has been hiding in plain sight all along: These columns provide incredible insights into precisely why students value student media.

From up on high, we're always preaching Important Serious Stuff: democracy. A free press. The First Amendment. Audience engagement. Service to community.

But down in the trenches, student journalists are breeding and cultivating very real newsroom cultures that are just as much about friendships and experiences as they are about holding up the pillars of democracy.

Obviously, we know this. But are we doing anything to capitalize on it, to truly understand the student newsroom culture and use it to benefit future classes of students?

Do we tell students that not only will they get good experience, they might also meet the best man at their wedding? Do we tell them that if the basketball team makes the Final Four, they might get to fly on an airplane for the first time? Do we feed into their FOMO at missing out on opportunities to make new friends?

My call to action for you this week, whether you're running a student newsroom or lecturing to classrooms or running an entire journalism department: What about your student media program is revealed when you read between the lines of these student farewell columns? And how can you synthesize that information for future recruitment, talking points, mentoring and classroom lessons?

Students are fully revealing what matters most to them about collegiate journalism. Are we paying attention?

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Rümeysa Öztürk settles with US government and returns to Turkey (WGBH)

SPJ’s controversial SIN contest, in which student news outlets publish the most unethical issue possible, announced its winners last week. 

Hat tip to Jeremy Caplan’s Wonder Tools newsletter, which this week highlighted a new Google Labs product, Career Dreamer, “a playful way to explore career possibilities with AI.” It might be helpful/useful/fun for your students who are experiencing career anxiety.

Graduation gift alert: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jodi Kantor just published a new book, “How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work.” In it, she details how failures actually enhanced her career, including getting kicked off of her student newspaper.

I was reading through the Reynolds Journalism Institute's 2026 Student Innovation Competition and thought a couple of entries might benefit your newsroom or classroom: Bridge Influencer Journalism from students at the University of Georgia and the Newsfluencer Academy from USC grad students.

If you don’t yet have a student comms agency, get a move on — or the business school might swoop in and start one first, like at Hofstra.

USC senior Jennifer Nehrer pitched me a great idea based on some earlier reporting she’d done: How are student journalists handling Trump 2.0?

Turns out, they are writing a new rulebook in real time that puts source and reporter safety (both psychological and physical) at the forefront of their efforts, enacting wholesale newsroom policy changes that often fly in the face of the advice they are getting in class.

Read more about how collegiate editors are thinking through takedown requests, anonymous sources, the right to be forgotten, and more in this week’s Student Press Report.

Each week I search for great collegiate journalism by scanning the RSS feeds of student newspapers from across the country. These are my favorite from the last week — here’s the full archive. If you’ve got a great student media story, email it to me at [email protected].

🏮 A special shout-out to the staffers of The Lantern at Ohio State University for being on top of their university president's resignation with stories like Key details of Carter's inappropriate relationship and Investigation finds Carter improperly used university resources

🤑 'Profit is their goal': SIU faculty question university's partnership with Risepoint, citing allegations of predatory tactics (Daily Egyptian, Southern Illinois University)

🍻 Students working at local bars give new perspective on nightlife in Binghamton (Pipe Dream, Binghamton University)

👩‍🦼 Professors navigate new accessibility requirements in coursework (The Daily Utah Chronicle, University of Utah)

🪖 Could the draft return? What TCU students need to know (TCU 360, Texas Christian University)

🦳 Photo essay: Oldest worker on campus defies retirement (The Poly Post, California Polytechnic State University, Pomona)

Umm … 🐻 Bear sightings on the rise at William Paterson University (The Beacon, William Paterson University)

I’m sensing a wildlife theme! 🦌 How too many deer are reshaping Illinois (The Leader, Elmhurst University)

📚 Who decides what books make it into your library? (The Egalitarian, Houston City College)

🥊 'Quintessential Rocky story': Student races NASCAR in law school (The Temple News, Temple University)

It’s a short newsletter and week for me — I’m lucky enough to be traveling to help with a pilot leadership program for Search for Common Ground.

I had to pick an area of focus where there’s frequent conflict, so I’m working on the tension between student media and administration. Stay tuned! Maybe I’ll solve this one yet.

P.S. If you found something helpful this week, will you consider a one-time $10 donation to my newsletter? Every little bit counts!