MSUM student newspaper The Advocate making a grassroots comeback
By Robin Huebner
November 27, 2024
MOORHEAD — A long-running college newspaper is back after a hiatus due to a new core group of students who aim to help keep their campus informed.
The Advocate at Minnesota State University Moorhead has been out of circulation for a couple years, said Chris Walker, an associate professor of communication and journalism at the university, who will serve as faculty adviser to the students.
“I think it’s absolutely vital for a university to have an active newspaper, especially if you have an active journalism program, which we do,” Walker said. The paper had likely stopped publishing for lack of student interest, he said.
The paper will again be published, in large part, to a spark of interest from a transfer student, who met other like-minded students on campus.
Xavier Scott transferred to MSUM in the fall from Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he was a managing editor at that school’s student newspaper.
“I’m actually not in journalism,” Scott said. “I just found a passion for it.”
The 20-year-old college junior is a native of Mandan, North Dakota, majoring in film production.
The student newspaper got its start in 1925 as The MiSTiC, named after what was then Moorhead State Teachers College.
Coverage of the Vietnam War, among other issues, got The MiSTiC shut down in 1969. An underground paper rebranded as The Mystic also didn’t make it.
The Advocate newspaper was born on Sept. 23, 1971.
While it’s a big undertaking to get the paper running again after a two-plus year break, Walker is optimistic and hopeful about this group of students.
“I have a feeling they’ll pull it off,” he said.