Bella Patton, Campus Carrier features editor
Ava Jarrell, Campus Carrier asst. features editor
Having served the community since 1908, the weekly publication of the Campus Carrier has kept Berry students, faculty and staff informed for over 100 years. Student newspapers at Berry began with the Boys’ Industrial School Advance in the early 1900’s. Later, in 1911, it became the Berry School News before transitioning into the Mount Berry News. Finally, in the 1960-1961 school year, students were asked to suggest a new name for the paper. Student Sue Ramey’s entry, “Campus Carrier” was voted in and is the name we all know today.
With such a long history, many stories and writers have come along, but the mission remains the same. This is especially true for Kevin Kleine, who has been student publications adviser for 37 years and will be retiring this spring.
“The core hasn’t changed,” Kleine said. “Student publications serve as the watchdog to provide information for the community, so they are allowed to make informed choices and function as a democratic society. The absolute truths and standards remain the same: one, seek the truth; two, verify facts; three, verify from a wide variety of sources; and four, be assertive and serve as a watchdog to the government on all levels. Journalists defend the First Amendment. Student journalists or journalism period have to watch out for people who limit speech in any way.”
Kleine said that with almost forty years working at the Carrier, it can be hard to pick some of his personal “greatest hits,” as he remembers stories for many different reasons. Some are informative, funny, strange or emotional. However, Kleine said that his first issue in 1989, the 1993 issue about a strong blizzard, the 2001 Sept. 11 issue, the 2009 issue about an exorcism on campus and the 2017 issues remembering deceased students David Shankles and Joseph McDaniel stick out in his mind the most. Jim Watkins has been a professor of English at Berry for almost 31 years. Through his work in the department, he has sent numerous students to various student publications and is a frequent reader of the Campus Carrier himself. He praised the professional and rigorous manner with which the paper is run and highlighted its importance in everything from student development to greater collegiate spaces.
These students of the Boys’ Industrial School would form the staff of Berry’s first student-run newspaper.
“The legacy is the seriousness with which students take their work in publications because it matters,” Watkins said. “Look at all the prizes that the newspaper and other publications have won. Also having that person that tells them, you know, you could do this a little bit better on this. That makes a big difference.”