The Red and Black Board To Meet Over Resignations

Board members of The Red and Black plan to meet Friday in Athens to try to resolve a dispute that recently led to the.

A source has told Patch that a meeting is planned in connection with the dispute. The resignations were in response to a draft memo from the Red and Black board that included guidelines for news coverage.

"There has been a lot of miscommunication all around," a board member, who requested anonymity, said Thursday.

Here’s that draft memo.

The Red and Black has been independent of the university since 1980, with its own board of directors. Last year, the student newspaper went to an online-first format. Economic factors associated with that shift may have prompted the draft memo, observers said.

Charles Russell, a member of the Red and Black board, has posted about the situation on Facebook: 

"Last year, the leadership insisted—and the students embarked—on a bold move to digital-first. That move also included abandonment of the daily student newspaper that generations of UGA students, faculty and staff have come to expect; and a move to publication of a weekly format in print that was largely unsuccessful in filling that need. What we’ve done at the board level, is authorize significant new expenditures from reserves to more fully deliver on our training mission, by providing the support staff to help the students learn how to juggle multiple media initiatives successfully—all while staying focused on why they’re in Athens in the first place: to get their education."

The students who left the newspaper have started a website, Red and Dead. They opened a Twitter account, but gathered so many followers in the first few minutes that Twitter thought they were spammers. Many have requested that the account be reinstated.

Patch will have continuing coverage of The Red and Black situation.

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