Wesley Wright, assistant director of student media at Florida Atlantic University, has been named one of two recipients of the Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. The honor recognizes his outstanding contributions to the organization and the journalism field.
At Florida Atlantic University, Wright currently leads the university’s student newspaper and other campus media outlets. In addition to this role, he is the founder of the ReNews Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restarting dormant student newspapers at historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions. He also serves on the Society of Professional Journalists’ board of directors.
Wright holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Florida Atlantic University and a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy studies from Florida State University.
Hey Wesley,
Are you kidding me. The main reason why many HBCUs so-called student newspaper are stagnant as pond water and subpar is for a few pivotal reasons.
First, it’s due to complacent faculty who happily champion the higher education status quo. Second, the upper echelon administrators at those beloved HBCUs who expend more time, energy, and fiscal resources in nepotism, colorism, and groupism instead of having award winning student newspapers. Third, entirely too many so-called Black American undergraduate students are more concerned about the donning the latest trendy clothes, attending the ‘hottest concert/club’, worrying about Tom Foolery in the sports and entertainment industry. I would even venture in saying that too many lack the academic discipline to dedicate time to write for their university student newspaper.
As a result, the continued administrative malfeasance, public safety issues, and the financial aid mismanagement will continue down a bottomless pit with no accountability due to not having an active student newspaper in 2025. In other words, one can very easily determine the overall consciousness level of a university or college based upon the vibrancy and activity level of their student newspaper. In other words, many HBCUs journalistic bones are dry in the valley.