The student journalists of The Mercury faced two options in September: buckle under the weight of administrative pressure or explore the unknown world of true independence. We chose independence.
During its 44-year run, The Mercury was an editorially independent student-run publication. Students made all the content decisions such as what topics to cover and how to write each story, while professional staff in Student Affairs made all the administrative and financial decisions. For this system to work effectively, it requires cooperation and trust between students and administrators; otherwise, tensions brew and communication breaks down. Between budget issues, censorship and punishment from UTD’s administration, the system shattered completely.
Budgetary transparency is an issue Mercury leadership has dealt with for years now. Student leaders need information about our operations if we are going to make responsible decisions. In the first months of their appointment, former Mercury Editor-in-Chief Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez asked for access to The Mercury’s operating budget so they could determine how much staff to hire and how many print issues to order. Initial requests were denied by Mercury advisers. After two months of requesting, Jenni Huffenberger, senior director of marketing and student affairs and, at the time, interim director of student media, provided Olivares Gutierrez with financial figures from fiscal year 2019. These figures were problematic: they only covered money allocated for staff pay instead of the full operating budget, apportioned stipends for positions that do not exist like “Sports Editor” and did not account for stipend positions that do exist like Distribution Manager. While the 2019 figures were appreciated and helped us construct a financial framework for how much to spend on staff per Mercury issue, they did not provide sufficient information about our publication’s operations or costs. The Mercury could not run successfully when administrators kept giving seemingly random, top-down directives — such as restrictions on print — without sharing budget info or even a basic overview of The Mercury’s financial situation and strategy. We have chosen to become independent so that we, the students, who are responsible for ensuring staff get paid and the paper gets printed, can properly access and control our operating budget.
Over the past year, The Mercury faced an unprecedented level of pressure and attempts at censorship from UTD’s administration, documented in articles like Olivares Gutierrez’s editor’s desk pieces. These punitive actions included demoting The Mercury’s previous adviser; illegally removing The Mercury’s newspapers from its newsstand kiosks; delayed payments to Mercury staff and management; prohibition from traveling to student media conferences; and a newfound insistence on prior review. We have chosen independence so we, as students, are free from Student Affairs administrators overseeing and arbitrarily controlling our activities. The Retrograde, as UTD’s new student newspaper, will likely continue facing some administrative hostility, but our newfound independence protects us — UTD cannot force us to censor our work or submit it for prior review; UTD cannot withhold our pay; UTD cannot attack our adviser or other professional Student Media staff for failing to control us; and UTD cannot restrict our budget as other universities like Wichita State University in Kansas or Sul Ross State University in Texas have done with their student papers.
The death knell for The Mercury was the abrupt termination of Olivares Gutierrez from their Editor-in-Chief position Sept. 13. If The Mercury’s remaining management members had tried to continue on as normal, we would be submitting to a harrowing precedent: one where administrators can remove student leadership on a whim without following proper procedures. Student Affairs administrators flouted their own policies by disallowing Student Media Operating Board members from attending Olivares Gutierrez’s termination hearing even though they were obligated to attend, and they have continued to disregard those policies by circumventing the proper appeal process for Olivares Gutierrez, demanding access to The Mercury’s social media accounts and attempting to schedule SMOB hearings for Mercury management members that SMOB has no jurisdiction over. With such flagrant disregard for rules and fairness, nothing is stopping Student Affairs from removing any student media leaders it personally dislikes. We have chosen independence so we, as students, can avoid campus administration’s petty power politics and focus on what actually matters: journalism.
The independent, UTD-focused student publication replacing The Mercury is The Retrograde, launched Sept. 21 and officialized by Student Government by Sept. 24. The Retrograde is aiming to become a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit within the next academic year and will continue independently publishing student journalism on its website in the interim period. The Retrograde will create a board of directors composed of faculty, industry professionals and student media mentors to oversee our organizational functions by the end of this academic year. Alongside the board of directors, The Retrograde will also create an advisory council composed of representatives from various student groups and organizations on campus so our coverage can be guided by the needs and interests of the student body.
The Retrograde is happy to join the ad-hoc committee established by Student Government to review the Student Media bylaws, but we can never go back to the old paradigm under Student Affairs. Our students deserve better. UTD deserves better. We will continue providing news, life and arts and opinion coverage relevant to the UTD student community in the same vein as what The Mercury covered, as well as continuing the projects begun under the now-defunct Mercury and expanding our investigative efforts. Look out for our upcoming work, particularly about the public records we requested in the wake of the May 1 encampment and arrests.
Interested in supporting independent journalism at The Retrograde? Consider donating to The Retrograde’s GoFundMe or Patreon.
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