Eliyahu Gasson | opinions editor

Seton Hill University’s decision to put its student newspaper on hiatus caused outrage and confusion among fellow student journalists and regional reporters.

An article published by TribLive on Jan. 27 reported that an email sent to The Setonian’s Editor-In-Chief Summer Griffin and acquired by TribLive cited the following as reasons for the hiatus: “No capacity among English faculty to put in the work necessary to advise the publication; The shift to digital formats; A broader lack of support for journalism in culture; A lack of students in the journalism major; A lack of institutional clarity on the publication’s editorial process and the role of the faculty adviser and university in content moderation.”

“This decision was not made lightly, as we greatly value the publication’s legacy and its continuing potential in fostering student creativity, critical thinking and journalistic skills,” the email read.

The article included interviews with students, who claimed that the hiatus was an act of censorship. They also alleged that the provost always had final say over what was published.

Two days later, TribLive published an editorial with the headline “No excuse justifies silencing student journalism,” which heavily criticized the university’s decision to pause production of its student newspaper calling all of the points made in the email “cowardly cop-outs” save for the lack of faculty to advise the publication.

Perhaps they have a point. A lack of support for journalism in the culture is not a good reason to put a newspaper on hiatus. Nor does a lack of journalism majors in the university justify the pause on an invaluable teaching tool for young journalists. There’s also the issue of giving students at Seton Hill the ability to express their moral right to freedom of speech.

But the outrage directed toward Seton Hill University was far too extreme. The university said that they plan to bring it back in the fall, likely as an online-only publication, demonstrating, at the very least, a willingness to humor the return of the publication.

TribLive published a letter to the editor on Feb. 5 from Dennis Jerz, the former advisor for The Setonian whose decision to step down started the domino chain that led to the email from the university.

“As I committed about a third of my time to journalism, two or three committed students — or sometimes just one — struggled to produce even one issue in recent semesters,” the article read. “Burnt out, I stepped down as advisor.”

Jerz also criticized the initial article, calling some of the claims made in it “hearsay.”

“Maybe four or five times, a provost requested a little chat, but always mediated professionally, listening as the students and I discussed pre-publication review, newspaper theft and even (dramatic pause) defamation,” he wrote. “Sometimes when an editor asked for a routine revision, the writer would side-eye me and grumble about censorship. But the Provost was never the villain.”

The Setonian’s hiatus and the reporting about it point to a broader issue facing the worlds of higher education and journalism in this country.

Colleges and universities across the country are facing shrinking enrollment numbers. According to an October article from The Hechinger Report, which covers education, college enrollment has been declining for over a decade. Twenty-eight degree-granting institutions closed in the first nine months of 2024 alone, compared to 15 in the year prior.

Another article from The Hechinger Report published in August said that colleges were closing at a rate of one per week.

The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., was one of said institutions forced to close its doors in 2024. According to the New York State Education Department, the college had 1,194 full-time students enrolled before it was shut down. Notre Dame College in Ohio also closed in 2024. According to College Navigator, the college had 1,336 full-time undergraduate students in Fall of 2023.

According to U.S. News & World Report, Seton Hill University had a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,597.

Every aspect of journalism costs money: Staff, travel, work-space, websites, web domains and printing are all expenditures that the university would have to consider when determining the value of their student newspaper. And with the very real risk of similarly sized, though perhaps slightly smaller, colleges and universities closing rapidly, the administration would have a lot to consider.

If only two or three students were committed to working on the paper at a time, and they did struggle to produce even one issue per semester, maybe taking a break was the right move. It gives the university a chance to take a step back, reevaluate and re-imagine what they want their student publication to be to make it as good as possible for an institution of its size.

We journalists are quick to tilt our heads and squint our eyes at nearly every claim that a powerful person makes. That’s a good instinct to have, not just in the profession but life in general. The best thing we can do with the information we have from both TribLive and Seton Hill is to wait and see if the university can pull off its planned revival of its student paper.