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EDITOR’S NOTE
Story Week ends without proper communication of its conclusion
management
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MANAGING EDITOR AD & BUSINESS MANAGER
Kyra Senese Jacob Wittich Begina Armstrong
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
“AUTHOR THE CULTURE of your time,” is one of
many slogans Columbia repeatedly touts at its orientations and open houses, but what serves as arguably the biggest opportunity for students to do just that has been quietly canceled. Freshmen and transfer students, along with Chicago’s devoted literary community, will miss one of Columbia’s most celebrated events this spring. For the last 19 years, Columbia students and thousands of Chicagoans have gathered every March to enjoy Story Week, a Columbia-sponsored festival that enables prominent and rising authors to share their work. However, the event, hosted by the Creative Writing Department, has been canceled just shy of its 20th year, as reported in the Front Page article. Described as “one of the largest and longest creative writing festivals in the country,” the annual Story Week festival has drawn as many as 2,500 attendees to its readings and discussion panels. Last year’s festival brought in more than 50 noteworthy speakers, as reported March 9, 2015, by The Chronicle. Students and local residents have adored the festival for years for many reasons. Story Week allowed students interested in writing careers to be exposed to successful industry professionals, offered nearly a week of entertaining and educational events for those not enrolled in writing curricula, promoted diversity by exposing all attendees to a slew of stories written by authors of various backgrounds and served as an unmatched networking opportunity by bringing some of the most talented creative minds right to the college’s own campus. This cancellation, paired with the 2014 discontinuation of Conversations in the Arts, another Columbia-hosted event that ran for 10 years and offered students the chance to hear from the most compelling creatives in various industries, including Joan Rivers and Horatio Sanz in recent years, marks another missed opportunity for students resulting from the college’s reprioritized budget. What’s nearly as disturbing as learning the college will not host the festival this year is the way in which members of the community have—or have not—been 2 THE CHRONICLE NOVEMBER 23, 2015
CAMPUS EDITOR CAMPUS REPORTERS
Megan Bennett Lauren Kostiuk Arabella Breck
arts & culture
ARTS & CULTURE REPORTERS
Zoë Eitel Frank EnYart Jake Miller Ariel Parrella-Aureli
opinions
OPINIONS EDITOR
Abby Seitz
metro
METRO REPORTERS
McKayla Braid Dominique Jackson Gretchen Sterba Jordan Watkins
made aware of the discontinuation of copy Story Week. COPY EDITORS Katlyn Tolly Many students and faculty members Selena Cotte within the Creative Writing Department Tamarah Webb had no idea that Story Week will not be running this year when The Chronicle graphics became aware of the news. Repeated SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Colin King requests for comment on the demise and GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Alexander Aghayere possible future of the festival at Columbia Zoë Haworth were rebuffed by the college’s spokesphotography woman, Cara Birch, and Tony Trigilio, interim chair of the department. SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR Lou Foglia PHOTO EDITORS Evan Bell Some students say they are enjoying Santiago Covarrubias the department’s new Creative Writing G-Jun Yam Reading Series, but that they were never made aware that the series is intended to multimedia replace Story Week. One student made MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Jessica Scott it clear that she appreciates the reading MULTIMEDIA REPORTERS Saiyna Bashir series but said it is not as valuable to stuChris Shuttlesworth dents as the festival was. advertising Another concern that undergraduates face with the demise of Story Week is the MARKETING CONSULTANTS Brendan Church Annie Johnson lost opportunity to engage in departmental events relating to their industry. While web the reading series may be entertaining, WEBMASTER Clayton Haddock it only includes graduate students as speakers, whereas Story Week enabled operations both current undergraduate and graduate OFFICE ASSISTANTS Ethan Stocking-Anderson students to showcase their talent. Andrea Salcedo Columbia may be attempting to tout its Creative Writing Department as colleges senior staff nationwide compete to bolster their grad cancelFACULTY ADVISER Jeff Lyon uate programs, but attributing the ASSISTANT FACULTY ADVISER Stephanie Goldberg lation of one of the college’s most beloved events to budget cuts and replacing it with GENERAL MANAGER Chris Richert an event that solely benefits its graduate students deprives undergrads of networking opportunities and community engagement, two things Columbia prides itself on. ksenese@chroniclemail.com
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