The Student Media Board of Directors selected Amanda Wilkins, a sophomore in horticulture science, Tuesday night as Technician’s editor-in-chief for the next academic year. Technician’s staff has taken issue with the means by which the choice was made.

The Technician Advisory Board, consisting of professionals, Technician advisers, readers and alumni, met first to interview and ask questions of the five candidates applying for the position.

Other candidates considered included Technician’s design editor, a freelancer for a community newspaper and two other upperclassmen.

The advisory board then deliberated in closed session and made its recommendation to the Student Media Board of Directors, which approved the selection of Wilkins.

Russell Witham, one of the executive editors of Technician, said the next year will be much different for Technician.

“The hiring of [Wilkins] represents a transition for the paper and puts a new face on the paper,” he said. “It’s going to change the way we do business.” 

Wilkins said she was shocked by the board’s decision. 

“I felt very confident there were other qualified candidates,” she said. “I was interested in applying the first time around, but something came up. I was disappointed no one stepped up the first time, so this time around I put in my application.” 

Wilkins said she received a lot of support from members of the board, despite only being a freshman — sophomore by hours — and Technician entry-level photographer. 

“I’ve only been on staff for a year as a photographer… but I stepped up to take a lot of assignments,” she said. “[The members of the board] told me I had really good management skills and traits for a good editor. I have the skill set to get Technician back on its feet.” 

Wilkins said she has had little experience writing for a college publication, but the board has addressed that. She plans to attend seminars and read books to improve her journalism skills over the summer. 

According to Wilkins, she plans to rework the office setting to make sure the paper gets the most out of its staff, including working with the writing coach and journalism professors to improve the staff’s and her own writing skills. 

“I plan to have meetings with the staff and upper administration,” Wilkins said. “We have to look over everything and see what’s worked and what hasn’t.” 

Saja Hindi, former Technician editor-in-chief, was charged by the Student Media Board to head a committee to restructure Technician. The committee was responsible for figuring out the issues of the organization, gathering feedback from the campus community (which was done mainly through savetechnician.com) and advertising the editor-in-chief position after no one applied the first time. 

“It’s surprising that a board of professionals and full-time adviser decided to hire a freshman photographer to serve as editor-in-chief, especially when there were other qualified candidates,” Hindi said. “It is understandable, however, that the current staff is upset because they feel like their voices were not heard, an ongoing issue of contention with the adviser. While the Student Media Board is a great resource, Technician is a student-run organization, and students should have had a say in executive decisions.” 

According to Hindi, traditionally, there has always been a current staff member present for deliberations of the advisory board, but there wasn’t this year. 

“At Tuesday night’s meeting, the board opened the floor for discussion, but the decision had already been made, so what students said was inconsequential,” she said. “I can’t speak for the advisory board because I wasn’t in the deliberations, but not getting staff input was a mistake. One of the committee’s recommendations was a focus on student empowerment and [Tuesday night’s] decision was not about students feeling empowered.” 

Hindi said none of the staff members have a personal issue with Wilkins that she is aware of, but in the past, editors worked hard to move up in the ranks and “running a daily newspaper is no easy feat for a student who is a senior, let alone a freshman.”

Kate Shefte, one of the executive editors for Technician, said the decision came as a shock to her. 

“I was surprised and blind-sided by the decision to hire a freshman for editor-in-chief,” she said. “I listened to all the candidates and I didn’t think she was the most qualified, but she can prove me wrong.” 

Shefte said she felt the board made the decision to have more of an influence on Technician’s operations. 

“[The board and adviser] seemed to want to change the dynamic already in place. There is a core group of editors who have become very close, and they have to be,” she said. “They would like to exert a little more control over Technician’s inner workings. Things will be different now, and not necessarily for the better.” 

Tyler Everett, deputy sports editor for Technician, said he felt the staff had no say in the decision for editor-in-chief. 

“It’s unbelievable how little control the people regularly up in this office have over what goes on in the office,” he said. “It feels as though every major decision regarding this organization is made by a board of people with no direct involvement in nightly operations.”

Hindi said she was especially disappointed with the result of the recommendations from her committee.

“It was very disappointing for the committee to put in that much time and effort into coming up with recommendations for the paper, which seemed to not matter last night,” she said. “‘Save Technician’ was a project we hoped would help Technician re-establish itself, but after [Tuesday’s] meeting, it felt like the recommendations were just for show. There are some increasingly growing tensions between the student staff and the adviser and the adviser’s relationship with the board members, and until students feel empowered again, the paper’s quality will continue to decline.”

According to Hindi, all five candidates would have made great contributions to next year’s paper, but right now Technician needs a leader more than anything. She said that leader has to have staff support so it can take the paper in a new direction. 

“Editor-in-chief is a big-time commitment, a role a student should serve in after developing relationships on campus,” Hindi said. “The staff’s disappointment is not so much about who was hired, but about their input not being taken into consideration. I’m sure Amanda is a great person, but the entire staff needs to feel empowered.”