A new program will allow contributing writers to apply for spring 2022 positions using the closed staff applications in December, Editor-in-Chief Clare Mulroy and members of the paper’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion group decided Wednesday.
Looking to increase the diversity of its staff, The Eagle will forgo a more traditional round of recruitment with applications in favor of solely promoting its contributing writer program this fall.
DEI members hope the updated recruitment process will attract interested students who may not apply if The Eagle retains its standard application, they said Wednesday.
Students who contribute at least a set number of articles and attend meetings this fall can then apply for a permanent staff position using The Eagle’s internal application in December when recruitment for the spring begins, DEI members decided during the meeting.
At Mulroy’s direction, all managing editors will make efforts to diversify The Eagle’s readership and engagement with American University community members this fall with set goals for their section.
DEI members and other Eagle staffers will also use a recently published equity guide from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism as a new blueprint for an internal equity guide.
Such a guide will complement a routine review of the paper’s style sheet that the Copy department will conduct this fall.
El Águila managing editor Pablo Molina Asensi said his section will collaborate with The Eagle’s other sections to translate News, Life, Sports and Opinion articles into Spanish articles for El Águila.
The News section will increase its coverage of events hosted by marginalized communities and underrepresented groups on campus this fall, and the Opinion section will relaunch its Identities columns in the coming weeks.
The Sports section will contact underrepresented student-athlete groups and will ensure its coverage is equitable for both men’s and women’s teams.
The Multimedia team will collaborate with the Life section, among others, to increase podcasting and larger multimedia projects for the fall.
DEI members hope such efforts will create mutual conversations between the paper and University students, they said Wednesday.
