| For more
than a century, Montana State University students have served
as unofficial historians for the university. |
| Whether
covering murders or weddings, selling ads or taking photographs,
MSU students have been documenting university life since May
30, 1895, when the Exponent, MSU's student newspaper, published
its first issue. |
| MSU President
James R. Reid wrote in that inaugural edition that educators
needed to combine the practical, scientific and moral in their
teaching. Readers in 1922 saw advertisements for topcoats "in
the new mannish styles"and read about regular scraps between
freshmen and sophomores: "Two members of the frosh paid
heavily for their 'fussing tendencies'and were given a ducking
in the frog pond."A front-page story referred to the freshmen
football team as the Bobkittens. An April Fool's edition printed
some of its stories and headlines upside down. A society editor
wrote about weddings in the Greek system. |
| Sixty-five
years later, the Exponent told how MSU President Bill Tietz
promised some 400 architecture students and faculty that the
College of Architecture would remain at MSU indefinitely. The
Exponent ran photos of the groundbreaking of the Advanced Technology
Park. The outbreak of AIDS prompted a long article on awareness
and safe sex. |
| Past and
present staff still reminisce about their experiences. Besides
late hours and changing concerns, they saw the Exponent go back
and forth between needing support and becoming so self-sufficient
that it was deemed a "dollar committee"of the Associated
Students of MSU. They watched it change from a monthly to a
twice-weekly to a weekly publication. They talked about career
plans that changed because of the Exponent. |
| "I
loved it," said Andy Malby, '92 Engl, who worked at the
Exponent from 1988 through 1992, most of that time as editor
in chief. |
| Now editor
of the Belgrade News, Malby said he submitted an article to
the Exponent for the anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination
and someone asked if he'd like to continue writing. He worked
as a reporter for two weeks before becoming news editor. In
the summer of 1989, he became editor in chief. |
| Dax Schieffer,
'97 Soc, thought he'd earn a master's degree in business administration
or attend law school after MSU. But his experiences at the Exponent
led to his becoming public relations manager at Big Sky Resort.
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