Greeks Find Their Voice
The Greek Chronicle gains acceptance and support of community
By Wes Milligan, The Greek Chronicle founder, University of Missouri

If it wasn’t for the ink stains on my hands from gripping it so tightly, I still wouldn’t believe that I founded The Greek Chronicle newspaper. A niche publication completely devoted to the mission of representing the Greek Community in the light it deserves, this campus publication has become in a short time the Greek Voice of the University of Missouri.

But why in the world would anyone want to start a Greek newspaper? Traditional to most college campuses, I’m sure you already have a campus-wide newspaper that highlights issues affecting your student body. But with niche publications making their presence known throughout the journalism world as the future of the publishing industry, having a Greek newspaper at the University of Missouri wasn’t a bad idea.

And honestly, a Greek newspaper wasn’t a new idea on my campus. With the well-known stigma associated with Greek students concerning drinking and hazing, Greek students wanted a way to broadcast all the philanthropic deeds they perform for the community as well as allowing the average Greek student to possess the ability to know exactly what is happening in their Greek system.

But mind you this publication is not a public relations fluff piece. The Greek Chronicle, fueled by the journalism ethical code of objectivity, reports both the positive and negative aspects of our Greek Community. This objectivity is The Greek Chronicle’s responsibility to the University of Missouri, and of course, to all of the Greek systems across the country.

So let’s start from the beginning. I would be remiss to tell you that before we launched our publication, there was another Greek newspaper on campus, the Greek Net. In fact, that’s where I got my start and spent my freshman year as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. But that newspaper was doomed from the start due to poor effort from the Greek Net’s owners, and slowly the newspaper, from lack of advertising interest and support from the Greek system, crumbled.

It was after I left this publication that I envisioned The Greek Chronicle. But I was only a sophomore and I wasn’t close to gaining the experience necessary for such an undertaking just yet. So I entrenched myself into Greek affairs, serving as the Interfraternity Council’s Public Relations Chairman and as Pi Kappa Alpha’s chapter president. With these two perspectives, I gauged the important issues facing both facets of a Greek system and waited for the right time.

On Feb. 29, 2000, the Greek Community finally received its voice. Sure, the first issue was a few days late and looked far from perfect, but I still remember the nervousness and excitement when I delivered the first bundle of newspapers from the back of my car.

Looking back at the first issue published almost two years ago, it amazes me how much The Greek Chronicle has grown and established itself as the No.1 Greek newspaper at the University of Missouri.

And all of this was done through a student effort. For those of you who read Student Leader, you already know that nothing is impossible. Chances are you are or will be veteran leaders when you finally graduate from college. My only advice is that don’t pass up an idea like The Greek Chronicle when it can benefit your Greek Community.

Please remember though that The Greek Chronicle didn’t happen overnight. We had setbacks from monetary constraints to gaining the respect of the Greek Community. In fact, the Greek Community was our biggest critics—it should be.

And don’t forget that the competition of another Greek newspaper and the all-campus newspaper were looking to rip us apart. Thus, we had to prove ourselves, not asking for any funding from our student audience. My life savings was keeping it afloat and, at times, I grew scared advertising from local businesses wouldn’t catch on.

Then history happened. After only five issues of The Greek Chronicle, I signed an advertising contract with every single Greek house on campus. No newspaper has ever done that at MU, and we only did it after five issues. Nicknamed the “all-Greek” contract, the Greek system gave its full support to us, because The Greek Chronicle lived up to it’s mission statement and finally filled its necessary role.

Oh, and remember that other Greek newspaper—we put it out of business. Shattering its funding, the Greek system didn’t have to settle for what was out there. Greeks could choose what they wanted, and The Greek Chronicle became No.1. Shortly afterwards, The Greek Chronicle was awarded Mizzou’s Most Outstanding Public Relations Project 2000 by the Greek system and the honorary title of Mizzou’s official Greek Voice of the University of Missouri.

There is no one, not even our competition, that can argue with that. Since then our page count has doubled and our staff has tripled thanks to the sponsorship of the Greek councils. Our staff is comprised of former chapter presidents, council officers, and the prominent journalists from the historically best journalism school in the country. The Greek Chronicle is also the best, because we are made of the best.

At Greek Honors Night, our present editor-in-chief was awarded the Sophomore of the Year Award and I was honored with the Cecil B. Kealser Award, given to the Greek student who has impacted the Greek system the most over the past four years. We graciously accepted these awards knowing that when we have doubts that The Greek Chronicle made a difference, these tangible awards put our minds and hearts to rest.

But I won’t be around forever—you have to establish a ladder foundation so that when the founder is gone, the newspaper and the responsibility will continue with future editors and leaders. Training, long hours, and concrete commitment is crucial to this transition, and if you’re not going to put effort here—well, don’t even bother with having a Greek newspaper. Letting a newspaper die after you leave serves no one—you’ve then accomplished nothing.

But through it all, I know that The Greek Chronicle will continue to publish its news with its all too-familiar ink. After all, even though my time will pass, I’ll always be a loyal reader.

Marc Thompson is publisher of The Greek Chronicle “the Greek Voice of the University of Missouri.” For more information contact him at (573)499-1522 or greekchronicle@greekchronicle.com.

Copyright © 2005 Oxendine Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved