At the most recent meeting of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion group this semester, Editor-in-Chief Sophie Austin announced that Eagle staff members will attend a Q&A session on Nov. 9 with School of Communication assistant professors Amy Eisman and Sherri Williams to learn about reporting on marginalized communities. Eisman is the director of the journalism division, and Williams is a member of SOC's DEI committee.
Austin also announced a new initiative for The Eagle to publish articles in Spanish. The editor-in-chief said that she is communicating with the Spanish language program and AU’s National Association of Hispanic Journalists to start the effort. If you or someone you know is bilingual and interested in writing or journalism, Austin urges you to contact her at editor@theeagleonline.com.
DEI members also provided updates about the other work The Eagle is doing to better represent the American University community. The group committed to researching the history of the LGBTQ+ community at AU and, additionally, The Eagle’s past coverage, or lack thereof, of race at the University. Other projects focused on marginalized communities are in the works, and the group will publish final reports for each.
As the first round of The Eagle's buddy system wraps up, as announced in the previous DEI report, staffers can expect new pairings to be announced soon, according to information provided at the meeting. The Eagle is planning for a third round to close the semester.
The Eagle’s online department is also busy compiling information about new staffers to be shared as spotlights on The Eagle’s social media accounts. The DEI group hopes that introducing its reporters to the community will build trust and reinforce that reporting requires a strong, mutual relationship between reporters and readers.
The group also discussed that The Eagle plans to host a game night in the coming weeks as a way of both building camaraderie and further developing a unified and inclusive community.
