The Phillipian

The Phillipian

Veritas Super Omnia
File:Phillipian Logo.png The official logo of The Phillipian, Phillips Academy's student-run newspaper
Type	Weekly newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Editor-in-chief	Sara Luzuriaga
Founded	1857
Headquarters	Andover, Massachusetts
Website	www.phillipian.net
Free online archives	archives.phillipian.net

The Phillipian is Phillips Academy's entirely uncensored and student-run weekly newspaper. The Phillipian was first printed on July 28, 1857, making it the oldest preparatory newspaper in the country, but the paper was not printed regularly until October 19, 1878. It is now in its 138th year of continuous publication.

Despite reporting on campus-related topics, The Phillipian is regarded as financially and editorially independent from Phillips Academy.

The Phillipian is 12–16 pages long and consists of five regular sections: News, Commentary, Sports, Arts and Features. In 2013, The Phillipian introduced a new section, Cross Campus, that covers news happening beyond campus bounds. A majority of the reporting for Cross Campus is provided by journalism students at Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

In 2015, The Phillipian discontinued on-campus paid subscriptions and offered the paper to students and faculty free of charge.

History

Early History

The first issue of The Phillipian, published on July 28, 1857, is unattributed to any editor-in-chief or publisher and was published under the motto "Justitia fiat ruat caelum", which is a Latin phrase meaning "Let justice be done though the heavens fall." The paper later adopted "Veritas super omnia" as its motto, a Latin phrase meaning "Truth above all."

The next issue was published over 21 years later, on October 19, 1878, and from that date onward, it was published weekly during the school year. Despite being the second published issue of The Phillipian, this issue was also labeled as Volume 1, Number 1. As a result, there exist two unique Volume 1, Number 1 issues of The Phillipian. The first ever masthead of The Phillipian was also published along with this issue and listed an editor-in-chief and nine associates. The first attributed editor-in-chief was Edward S. Beach.

Endowment Campaign

In 2013, The Phillipian launched a campaign to establish an endowment of at least $500,000, a number which would stabilize the financial security of the publication for the foreseeable future. The campaign lasted one year and was spearheaded by a committee consisting of 21 Phillipian alumni. Gary Lee, an award-winning journalist, and Thomas Rubin, Chief Intellectual Property Strategy Counsel of Microsoft, served as the co-chairs of the committee. Both spent time during their high school years working on The Phillipian.

Over 600 people contributed to the campaign, which surpassed its initial goal of $500,000 by raising $654,000 in one year.

Honors and Awards

• 2012 National Scholastic Press Association Newspaper Pacemaker Award

The Phillipian Charter

The Phillipian Charter is as follows:

1. The Phillipian strives to maintain professional standards of accuracy, objectivity and fairness at all times.
2. Staff members have the right to report on and editorialize about all topics, events or issues, including those unpopular or controversial.
3. The Phillipian will not publish anything obscene, libelous or detrimental to the immediate material and physical stability of the school.
4. The paper shall not be subjected to prior restraint, review or censorship.
5. Staff members have the obligation to learn and observe the legal and ethical responsibilities expected of them as practicing journalists.
6. The Editor in Chief assumes total responsibility for her/his publication.

This charter was established in 2003, when the 126th editorial board of the paper decided to combine its 1955 publication code with the Quill and Scroll Foundation's Student Press Rights Position.

The 1955 code was established soon after becoming an officially uncensored newspaper, when representatives from The Phillipian met with a committee of faculty members and representatives from other student publications. The code was to "serve as editorial guideposts for the respective communications." The code, however, was not published in The Phillipian until 1965.

The following text appeared in the paper on September 17, 1965:

The Phillipian is uncensored. It has a faculty advisor; but he never sees the paper until after it is printed and distributed. The Phillipian and the other student publications agreed when they became uncensored ten years ago to practice these precepts. These are the rules we play by:

1. Editorializing in straight news articles is to be kept at a minimum; however, by-lined articles are free to express individual opinions, provided always that these opinions are not slanderous or malicious.
2. Due respect must be given to those to whom respect is due.
3. Personalities should not be degraded in print; that is, there should be a sincere attempt to present the facts as clearly and as fairly as possible.
4. The Editor-in-Chief (or the President) is totally responsible for his publication.
5. There shall be weekly meetings between the Faculty advisor, the editor-in-chief, and such other members of the staff as these two shall see fit to appoint.
6. Any indiscretions which may be noticed by the Faculty should be brought to the editor's attention at this meeting.
7. Wisdom and judgement should control the decisions to print communications. One which presents the facts falsely, in an untrue light, or one which debases an individual should be omitted.
8. The publications of the students are spokesmen of the school and reflect student opinion. As such, they should be conducted in the best possible taste and manner.
9. Before a new board takes over, they should be acquainted by their advisor, with all the principles mentioned herein

Each year, after the editorial board turns over, the next board traditionally publishes The Phillipian Charter as its first editorial piece.

Notable Alumni

• Chris Agee, poet, essayist and editor (graduated 1974)
• Jonathan Alter, senior editor and columnist at Newsweek (graduated 1975)
• H.G. "Buzz" Bizzinger, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Friday Night Lights (graduated 1972)
• Jonathan Dee, author (graduated 1980)
• Charles Finch, author (graduated 1998)
• Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook and former editor-in-chief of The New Republic (graduated 2002)
• Gary Lee, award-winning journalist for The Washington Post and TIME (graduated 1974)
• Gerard Piel, publisher of the new Scientific American magazine (graduated 1933)
• Daniel Schwerin, main speechwriter for Hillary Clinton (graduated 2000)

The Phillipian has also produced several staff writers for major journalistic publications, such as The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The New Yorker and TIME.

External links

• The Phillipian Online
• The Phillipian Archives