The Online Reflector

The first issue of The Reflector was published on Nov. 15, 1922. It featured an introduction to the new school paper, written by President I.J. Good. The article was addressed to “Friends of Indiana Central,” and was written to address the campus community.

Many of the early issues of the paper featured articles about the sports teams and the debate team. The front page was a social hub of information, announcing parties and opportunities to interact with professors.

In some of the subsequent issues, during the first ten or so years of the newspaper, Good wrote a column that expressed his opinions about the happenings on campus.

Most of what editors and reporters wrote about things related to campus life and did not focus on national or international news.

One issue of The Reflector in 1927 announced the official mascot of what was then Indiana Central College: the Greyhound.

Prior to having a mascot, the college simply called themselves the “Cardinal and Grey Warrior.”

As the years progressed, many stories were written about the growth of the school, and new faculty members were frequently discussed.

The Reflector did not begin to incorporate national and international news until the 1960s. One of the major events during the 1960s was the Vietnam War.

In a 1965 issue, Assistant Editor Dennis Stone wrote about a visiting writer who spoke about international affairs and the effects they have on the United States.

Some local campus news also made national news. Two UIndy students have competed in the Miss America Pageant as Miss Indiana.

First, in 1973, Karen Rogers traveled to Atlantic City for the pageant, but did not place. The article on Rogers was on the front page and highlighted her singing talent and her height of 4 feet 11 inches.

However, Katie Stam ended up winning  the title of Miss America. She was crowned Miss America in 2009 and was at the time a senior communication major at UIndy. Many articles were written about her before and after being crowned Miss America, but one of the main articles was about her success at the pageant, the struggles she went through to get to the pageant and her responsibilities as the new Miss America.

Prior to Stam’s victory as Miss America, The Reflector was making advances in discussing more national and international news.

By 1991, Operation Desert Storm was in place. The Reflector covered topics such as the fear of being drafted, the university coming together and information that students should know about Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Desert Storm was international news, but writers from the paper found angles to localize it to campus.

In addition to reporting international news, The Reflector began to discuss topics that were major issues in the United States.

According to the Nov. 10, 1992 paper, the university held an AIDS workshop, during which guest speakers came to campus to speak about different topics concerning HIV/AIDS.

One particularly significant issue of the paper was the 9/11 issue.

Most of the newspaper focused on the events that took place after the attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon.

“I met with [Co-Managing and Sports Editor] Brian Robbins, and he and I decided that we had to do something [regarding 9/11]. We already had The Reflector for that issue basically laid out and put together,” said then editor-in-chief, Gretchen Rush Becker.

Becker wrote an editorial about the terrorist attacks, as well as the decision by the staff of The Reflector to  scrap what they already had for that issue and write new stories localizing and capturing the importance of what had happened.

“We took all the events that were happening on campus and localized it [9/11] to the university that way,” Becker said.

The Reflector staff covered prayer vigils, group discussions and blood donations. One topic important to the students and to The Reflector was the effect on international students on campus.

Nyaradazo Madzongwe, who was an international student and feature editor at the time, wrote about international students meeting and expressing their concerns about the attacks.

“I was the only person who was international on the staff of The Reflector, so I wrote little things that were happening that day around the international issues,” Madzongwe said.

The articles were completed even without the photos to go with them, and the newspaper staff worked together to make an entirely new paper in just a few days.

“We went back to the newsroom after rounding up a couple of other people. We pretty much trashed everything we had planned for the next issue and started over,” Robbins said. “We divided it up into things affecting campus, and those that didn’t directly affect the student body but that were important on a state, national and international level. This was too important, and…we assigned the stories in order of importance.”

A few years later, another disaster occurred in the United States.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

Again, the staff of The Reflector worked together to find a way to localize the events of Katrina to campus. The campus worked together to help the victims and students who were victims themselves.

Becker said she thought events like these showed the community of campus life at the University of Indianapolis. During these two major disasters, The Reflector covered students and faculty lending a hand to those who needed it.

In 2008, the election of Barack Obama as president was a historic moment in the United States. Jaclyn Dillman, who served as feature editor during that time, wrote about the election and the other candidates elected in Indiana.

Local to Indianapolis was the Indiana State Fair stage collapse last year.  Then Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Snay wrote about the incident, sharing the stories of some students who were there. Snay wrote about the memorial service held on Aug. 15, as well as funds raised in memory of those who lost their lives.

Over the years, topics featured in The Reflector have become more diverse than they were in 1922. Recent articles have included the new Roberts Hall, the inauguration of the newest university presidents and campus traditions such as the Celebration of the Flags.

The Reflector continues to localize national and international news to be relevant to the campus community.