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The Shield Celebrated 40 Years

The Shield celebrated its 40th anniversary in October with a reunion celebration for USI student publications staff, including staff of Transitions, which has appeared as a yearbook and a magazine over the years.

Erin Gibson, instructor in journalism and advisor to The Shield, unveiled plans for the spacious new student publications offices that will be located in the expanded University Center.

Gibson pored through archives and scanned every issue of The Shield in order to track down former staff and gather history for a documentary she produced along with Andy Black and David Leroy of Instructional Technology Services and Dr. David Black, assistant professor of communications.

The University’s first sanctioned student newspaper (there was an independent predecessor, The Roach), The Spartan Shield debuted October 15, 1968. “The Spartan Shield only lasted three issues before it changed to The Shield,” Gibson said. “It’s my understanding that the first team on campus was the Spartans. I assume that’s why it was The Spartan Shield, and when the team named changed to the Eagles in 1969, they shortened it to The Shield.”

Gibson said there have been consistent themes throughout the newspaper’s history. “The same stories keep repeating themselves throughout the history of the student press,” she said. “The staff has always written stories asking more people to be involved with the student press: ‘This is your student newspaper. You should be writing for it. You should be engaged in your campus.’ I anticipate it will be like this for the next 40 years.”

She added, “I’ve been taken by the level of hard news stories the students have taken on over the years. The student media was writing about the University becoming independent from Indiana State years before it ever was signed by Governor Orr. In the early ‘90s, Jim Beck had only been the editor for four issues when the C130 crashed. He put out a special emergency issue of The Shield about this tragedy that injured two employees of the University and killed a student.

“They weren’t just student journalists, they were journalists, and that’s what struck me during the entire 40 years of reading the student newspaper. They were covering real stories.”

The current staff of The Shield prepared an anniversary edition for publication on October 16. “They wrote stories about the beginnings of the student newspaper, taking a look at each decade, and interviewing former editors and writers,” Gibson said.

Gibson thanked Nancy Johnson, director of Alumni and Volunteer Services; the Communications Department; Jennifer Greene, archives librarian in Rice Library; and Barry Schonberger, dean of students; for assistance with the anniversary celebration. She also expressed gratitude for a programming grant from Dr. Robert Parrent, vice president for Student Affairs.

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