The first issues of two new campus publications are expected to appear before the end of this term.
The Forum, a non-ideological publication open to contributions from all students and a women's literary magazine, which has yet to be named, were created to fill a gap in the area of student publications, according to their founders.
"We saw there was a niche that wasn't being filled," John Honovich '97, co-founder of The Forum, said. Honovich explained that no other campus publication is non-ideological and open to a wide range of topics.
Honovich said The Forum would publish a variety of pieces ranging from news, sports or business to poetry, fiction or humor. Co-founder Iasson Demos '97 said every student is invited to submit their writing, no matter what their political persuasion.
The Forum will cover "a wide range of things to appeal to a diverse group of people," Honovich said. He added that it hopes to publish around three times each term. Demos said the main problem he and Honovich have had beginning the paper was inexperience.
History professor Walter Simons will serve as The Forum's faculty advisor. Honovich said the size of the paper should be somewhere between 16 and 20 pages.
Both publications intend to have their issues printed at Valley Copy in Lebanon.
Co-founders of the women's literary publication Margaret Chapman '97 and Sally Rosenthal '95 both said they felt a need to create an outlet for women's writing.
"We feel that there's not an adequate medium for women to express themselves creatively," Chapman said. It will be published once a term. The publication has not been named yet but Chapman said they are considering the name A Room of Our Own.
"It stands on its own as a literary magazine," Rosenthal said. "We didn't think there was a similar outlet."
Rosenthal said the publication will only print women's creative writing but will have men involved in the production process.
To receive College funding a new publication must be recognized by the Council on Student Organizations. COSO gives official recognition and funding to new student groups.
In order to gain recognition, an organization must be open to all students, have at least 10 students interested in its creation, a faculty advisor and a constitution, according to Director of Student Activities Tim Moore.
COSO provides funding for the first issue of new student publications but a publication is expected to fund itself for subsequent issues.
The Forum has received COSO recognition and the women's literary publication is expected to receive recognition this week.
"It wasn't as hard as we anticipated," Rosenthal said about starting the new publication.
"We really didn't know anything about what we were doing," Chapman said.
Around two weeks ago Chapman and Rosenthal sent out a BlitzMail message to "just about every woman we'd ever met on campus" informing them of the new publication and asking for submissions.
The deadline for submissions was last Thursday, by which time Chapman and Rosenthal had received 85 submissions. They plan to use 30 in the publication's first issue.
The Forum has about 35 students on its BlitzMail list, Honovich said. He said he has been spending between 10 and 15 hours a week working on different aspects of the publication.
The first issue will contain 10 articles ranging from an analysis of international news to political humor and "a bunch of poems," Honovich said.
