Looking back and moving forward: Celebrating 90 years of The Beacon

A birthday celebration will be hosted in the newsroom in St. Mary’s April 11

To celebrate this anniversary, The Beacon staff invites UP community members on April 11 from 12-2 p.m. for cake, drinks and giveaways in the newsroom, located in the St. Mary's Student Center. 

Ahead of The Beacon’s birthday, The Beacon spoke to past and current Beaconites about the importance of student media, team camaraderie and milestones from the last 90 years.

Before its current location in St. Mary’s, The Beacon’s newsroom was in the student communications building, which has now been replaced by Franz Hall. The pink, single-story building was the home base for the ideation, writing and publishing processes of The Beacon’s print-issues until 1986.

UP’s Director of Public Affairs and 1987 Beacon Editor-in-Chief Dan Christopherson remembers a newsroom of typing stories under word processors, cutting sheets of wax paper for the layout board and late nights pasting the weekly paper to be published every Thursday.  

“We took pride in good-quality journalism, accuracy and putting out a product that we could be proud of,” Christopherson said. “I spent so much time at that Beacon office. I had a lot of friends from other walks of life and other areas of campus, but those communication [and] journalism students, they were my people.”

Since its print days, The Beacon has held a valuable role on campus for many generations of students, a role that Assistant Director for Student Media and adviser to The Beacon Nancy Copic believes will continue to thrive beyond 90 years. 

“It's the beacon on campus, truly, it shines a light and draws people in,” Copic said. “[Students] deserve to have information that is useful to them, illuminating to them, and illuminating to faculty and staff. What will keep The Beacon going is clinging to those values, ethics… and high standards.”

Christopherson echoes Copic’s belief that The Beacon serves as a resource to The Bluff’s students, faculty and staff. For him, The Beacon was once one of the only campus news sources during a time without internet or social media. 

“The campus newspaper is super important for students, because you are the voice of the students,” Christopherson said. “The Beacon stands [as] I think it did back when I was a student… [It is] that voice to talk about what's going on, report truth and be a part of the campus life of students as they're going through their college years.”

Inspired by The Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics, The Beacon’s mission is to seek truth and report it. This mission was maintained even when The Beacon switched to an entirely digital publication in fall 2016.

Copic remembers The Beacon going all-digital as bittersweet, yet beneficial for mirroring an evolving journalism industry.

“A lot of people were sad about not having a newspaper anymore,” Copic said. “However, I think going all-digital actually prepared students better for the real working world now, because you have to meet people where they are, and they're on their phones, tablets or laptops.”

In addition to advancing as an entirely digital publication, The Beacon has also continued coverage throughout university changes and a global pandemic. According to Copic, The Beacon was the thread that helped bring the campus together as the University navigated COVID-19. 

“The students really had a sense of purpose and urgency of information that was changing day to day,” Copic said. “The Beacon would raise questions that would prompt the University to look at an issue they hadn't thought of before and address it. That was really rewarding.”

The Beacon’s recent milestones didn’t stop with its commitment to pandemic coverage. In fall 2021, The Beacon launched a new section for reporting on campus developments and concerns of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Like the transition to all-digital, the new DEI section intended to provide more representation of students, faculty and staff and hold the University accountable in its promise to sustain an inclusive environment. 

According to the 2022 Editor-in-Chief Austin De Dios, the new page highlighting DEI content came at a time when the editorial board wanted to dedicate themselves to telling DEI stories. 

“It fit right in on the website,” De Dios said. “At the time, there was a lot of energy around diversity, equity and inclusion and [helping] people to feel more included in their space, in their homes and on campus.”

According to Copic, the launch of the DEI section, and additional role on the editorial board, was spearheaded by De Dios, and has enhanced the coverage and values behind The Beacon’s reporting ever since. 

“You can call it DEI, or you can call it just being loving, kind and generous with people,” Copic said. “I think it’s been really enriching and [has] made our journalism better.”

While the addition of the DEI section aims to produce more inclusive coverage of campus community members, The Beacon’s student-run nature means gaps in coverage can always be improved, according to current Editor-in-Chief Kimberly Cortez. 

“I think being student led gives us an advantage in that we are generally in tune with what students find interesting and what students want us to cover,” Cortez said. “But I always feel like there are gaps in our coverage, given that all of us are full time students with part-time jobs and other commitments.” 

Alums like the 2008-2010 Editor-in-Chief Andy Matarrese can attest to the challenges of balancing student journalism alongside academic responsibilities and social life. 

Still, for Matarrese, The Beacon will remain a significant chapter in his life after graduating from UP. 

“I've moved pretty far away from my journalism life, but I have always held a soft spot for student media and a hearty interest in the news and the practice of making it,” Matarrese said. “The Beacon was really key to that. It drove me nuts a lot of times, but we had a good time and a lot of friendships and good memories were made.” 

For De Dios, the rewarding part of moving on from The Beacon was handing off the responsibility of student journalism to the next generation of reporters, photographers and editors. 

“Year after year after year, I've watched that be the case,” De Dios said. “I've gotten to watch from afar as The Beacon has grown and really stepped into its role [along with] all the student journalists stepping into their roles as public servants serving [the UP] community.”

For Cortez, their time on staff has been a meaningful experience at UP, a sentiment she thinks Beaconites of the past, present and future can agree with. 

“I'm sad to leave [The Beacon], but at the same time, I'm excited that other people get to experience it,” Cortez said. “It is such a pivotal experience in somebody's college journey. I hope that the next group of journalists that will continue to uphold The Beacon's name, remember the importance of their work and stay strong because it's not easy.”

First-year Beacon photographer Evan Guerra also believes The Beacon’s 90-year legacy is upheld through current staff who care about the work they produce. 

“It's really cool to have a part in [The Beacon’s] history,” Guerra said. “I look back at the archives [and] all the cool things that we've covered just knowing that in the future, students who [join] The Beacon will look back at our work [now] and it will influence them going forward.”

A collection of the 1902-1934 Columbiad and 1935-2016 The Beacon publications are digitally archived at Clark Library. Explore The University of Portland Student Newspaper collection here. 

Kalena O’Connell is a News Reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at oconnell27@up.edu.

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