Fordham Observer

''The Observer'' is the award-winning student newspaper of the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham University.

It is published in print bi-weekly when the university is in session by a staff of more than 50 students. Content is also published online on a more frequent basis. Based at Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan, ''The Observer''’s circulation also reaches Fordham’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, making it available to all students in the university’s undergraduate colleges and graduate schools.

Its alumni work at nearly every major publication in the nation — including '' The New York Times'', '' Us Weekly'', '' The Wall Street Journal'', ''Fortune Magazine'' and '' Newsweek—'' in a variety of reporting, editing, design and photography roles.

History

The first copy of the newspaper was published in November of 1981. Mitch Berger served as the founding editor-in-chief of the newspaper, and its inaugural advisor was Dr. Elizabeth Stone.

''The Observer'' is Lincoln Center’s fourth student-run newspaper. The first was ''The Curved Horn'' that was brought over from Rose Hill when the Lincoln Center campus was established in 1968. Two other papers, ''The Review'' and ''Evex'' were started up. By 1981, all three had folded, and ''The Observer'' emerged as the school's sole student publication. In 2016 the Communication and Media Studies department, which originally housed the newspaper, chose to remove all financial and curricular support from The Observer. This action led to an alumni campaign, a "Save The Observer" Facebook page and a letter signed by 115 alumni protesting the decision, which was seen as sudden and harmful to the diversity within the newspaper. As of 2022, The Observer has club status and is housed within the Office for Student Involvement. It is primarily funded via the student activity fee.

Notable alumni

* Kevin Devine, songwriter and musician
*Paul Wontorek, theater personality and editor-in-chief at Broadway.com
* Lori Majewski, U.S.-based entertainment writer and former co-founder/editor-in-chief of defunct publication Teen People
* Jane McGonigal, American game designer and author
*Naima Coster, Pushcart Prize-nominee who contributed essays to The Observer, and whose debut novel "Halsey Street" was originally excerpted in the publication
*Corinne Iozzio, editor-in-chief of Popular Science
*John Cummings, Republican candidate for the House of Representatives who unsuccessfully ran against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the 2020 general elections and wrote sports articles for The Observer
*Kathryn Feeney, Mr. Iglesias actress
*Mitch Berger, founding board member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Awards

In 2019, ''The Observer'' won the First Place award in the Best of Show category from the Associated Collegiate Press for a less-than-weekly newspaper at a four year school.

''The Observer'' won a College Online Pacemaker award from the ACP in 2013 and 2020, and was a finalist in 2010 and 2012. It was ranked as the eighth best college newspaper in the country, along with The Fordham Ram, in 2015 by the Princeton Review (The Review does not specify the publication, only the school). In 2021, The Observer was listed as a "Great College Newspaper," again along with The Fordham Ram by the Princeton Review.

The paper has in the past decade won numerous awards, including more than a dozen "story of the year" awards in several categories from the New York Press Association Better Newspaper contest and the American Scholastic Press Association.

References

{{Reflist

Student newspapers published in New York (state)
Fordham University