Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Paper's back on the beat at West Valley College

The Norseman is resuscitated

By Cecily Barnes

When West Valley College ended the semester last June, everyone thought the school's newspaper, The Norseman, had stopped publishing for good. But when the college reopened this fall, so did The Norseman, with student interest in the paper stronger than it's been in 20 years.

In response to a slashed budget, West Valley's journalism department was discontinued last May. The department chairman, Rich Cameron, argued that without the journalism program, The Norseman would not survive. "He's got a point," agreed Trustee Phil Stokes. "You have to teach kids to write stories and headlines and all that."

In late spring, the administration dissolved Cameron's position as faculty adviser to the newspaper and reassigned him to the campus technology center. Administrators suggested establishing a volunteer newspaper, but the faculty and students fought back, eventually making enough noise to catch the attention of the board of trustees, who took steps to insure The Norseman's survival.

"They [the Administration] wanted to put together a volunteer paper, but a lot of us were against that," said The Norseman's student editor, Chantal Lomers. "We put up petitions, and a lot of people were very willing to sign [them]."

Those fighting to save The Norseman also attended board meetings, called upon the student senate, and published attention-getting stories. Eventually, trustees caught on.

The board had approved eliminating the journalism department but had never OK'd the discontinuance of The Norseman.

"They were told by the administration that they could still have the paper without the department," Cameron explained.

Once they realized this wasn't the case, trustees took steps to resuscitate The Norseman.

"The board has never said anything but that we want the paper to continue," said trustee Stokes. "And we'll be here for at least one more year."

So, West Valley's paper can feel secure under the trustees' protective wing, for at least one more year.

For now, the endangered newspaper seems to be thriving.

"We have more than 22 students enrolled right now, which is double last year," said editor Lomers.

"It looks like we'll have the largest newspaper staff we've had in the 20-plus years I've been teaching journalism," Cameron said. "I don't know what I'm going to do with everyone."

For now, the staff is working to get out The Norseman's first issue, which will be featured online this year at West Valley's Web site.

"We're going to give heavy emphasis to our World Wide Web edition," Cameron said.

To assist with the overload, Cameron has appointed both a newsprint editor, Lomers, and an online editor, Josh Paige.