University of Southern Indiana's student publication | USI | student newspaper

The Shield
University of Southern Indiana's student publication | USI | student newspaper

The Shield
University of Southern Indiana's student publication | USI | student newspaper

The Shield

About The Shield

About us

The Shield is the student publication at the University of Southern Indiana.

The Shield is a designated public forum, which means it is free from administrative control. Students are responsible for all reporting, writing, photography, editing, designing, and ad sales.

You’ll find fresh content at usishield.com every day and topical monthly print editions on newsstands at more than 20 campus locations during the fall and spring semesters.

Mission Statement

The Shield independent student publications at the University of Southern Indiana serves the students and the campus community with factual information, entertaining content and a forum for discussion, reflecting their unique interests and concerns.

Governance

The Shield is governed by the University of Southern Indiana’s Student Publications Committee. This committee, appointed by the president, establishes criteria for the creation and operation of student publications, reviews and evaluates the financial operation, selects and/or removes editors of publications, adjudicates external and internal conflicts and complaints, and establishes and enforces standards of responsible journalistic behavior for staff of student publications.

The committee consists of the Department of Communications chair or his designee (chair), two administrators, three faculty persons nominated by the Faculty Senate, and three students. Students who are employed by a USI publication are not eligible to serve. The student publications adviser serves as an ex-officio (non-voting) member of the committee.

History

The first issue of The Spartan Shield was published on October 15, 1968. After three issues, the newspaper was renamed The Shield.

In 2002, The Shield launched usishield.com.

In 2005, President H. Ray Hoops designated The Shield as a public forum, free of administrative control. No administrator, faculty member or student leader may order The Shield staff to print or not print anything.

What it means to be a designated public forum

As safeguards for the editorial freedom of student publications, the following provisions are necessary:

  • The student press should be free of censorship and advance approval of copy, and its editors should be free to develop their own editorial policies and news coverage.
  • Editors of student publications should be protected from arbitrary suspension and removal because of student, faculty, and administrative or public disapproval of editorial policy or content. Only for proper and stated causes should editors be subject to removal and then by orderly and prescribed procedures. The Student Publications Committee, which is responsible for the appointment of editors, should be the agency responsible for their removal.
  • All university-published and -financed student publications should explicitly state on the editorial page that opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of Southern Indiana or the student body.