A decision to give Whit editors internship credit for their work on the paper was finalized this week by faculty of the Ric Edelman College of Communication and Creative Arts (CCCA) and the Office of Student Affairs. This will go into effect in the fall semester, according to an email from Whit adviser Nick DiUlio.

Dean Sanford Tweedie of the CCCA said in an email that he “spoke with Profs. DiUlio and Quigley [chair of the journalism department] about this and suggested they revisit the possibility of internships with the current SGA adviser [Associate Vice President of Student Life Andrew Tinnin]. They did and there was strong support.”

According to both Tweedie and DiUlio, this decision comes largely as a result of an editorial our staff wrote on fair compensation for The Whit, which “definitely helped push this conversation to the forefront,” DiUlio said in his email.

As we outlined in our editorial, Whit editors currently receive stipends ranging from $250 to $400 per semester, depending on their specific role. With this internship credit opportunity in place, editors will now be able to put their time and effort at The Whit toward completing their degree. Editors will continue to receive stipends regardless of whether they elect to receive internship credit.

“This is the first step toward treating our hard working editors more fairly and rewarding them for the incredible and challenging work they do week after week,” DiUlio said of the decision in his email correspondence.

Moving forward, there are hopes to attain further compensation for editors, and DiUlio is working on logistics to make that a reality.

In reference to the editorial that jump-started this conversation and subsequent decision, Tweedie said “It is good to see that journalism can have an impact!”

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