Теңнесси-Мартин университетінің студенттік газетінің тарихы

Student newspaper at the University of Tennessee at Martin

The Pacer, founded in 1928, is the name of the student newspaper of the University of Tennessee at Martin. The Office of Student Publications at UT Martin publishes The Pacer every Tuesday morning throughout the semester except for holidays and exam periods. As of 2006, the newspaper has a circulation of 3,000 copies. Throughout its history, the newspaper has also been named The Checkerboard and The Volette.

According to Robert L. Carroll's book, The University of Tennessee at Martin: The First One Hundred Years, the forerunner of UTM was a Baptist school, Hall Moody Institute, established in 1900. A student newspaper called The Crimson and Gold (the institute's colors) was printed for several years, and two annuals, or yearbooks, also were published. The Crimson and Gold run ended when the institute closed in 1927 because of financial troubles, and all students were given the opportunity to transfer to nearby Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. The University of Tennessee Junior College opened in the fall 1927, and a student newspaper, The Checkerboard, followed in 1928.

A group of students decided in the fall of 1927 that UTJC needed a student newspaper. They called themselves the Checkers, and the first evidence of their dream, the Checkerboard, appeared in the Weakley County Press in January and February 1928. They also published a standalone issue of the Checkerboard later in the spring of 1928 and then published a magazine by the same name at the end of the 1927–28 academic year. The magazine is also considered a forerunner of the present day UTM yearbook, The Spirit. Its first Editor was Lloyd Lynn. The first edition of The Volette, which evolved from the Checkers' vision and grew into the permanent student newspaper at what is now UTM, was printed Dec. 17, 1928. It paid tribute to the Checkers on page 2, for "the spontaneous enthusiasm of this group of students", who "actually published a paper weekly; without money, without anything but the passive approval of the faculty and their own native ability coupled with a boundless determination. "

The first edition of The Pacer was printed on Oct. 6, 1971. At that time, UTM's athletics nickname was the Pacers. Though the university's nickname was changed to the Skyhawks in the 1995, then Pacer adviser Dr. Robert Nanney asked the staff to vote whether to again change the newspaper's name to reflect the changing mascot, as was done when it was The Volette. "By an overwhelming margin, the staff voted to retain the Pacer moniker for two reasons. First, The Pacer reflects an ever evolving, pace setting entity, and we believed the newspaper should continue to represent such on campus. Second, the staff believed that retaining the name would make it clear that the newspaper does not necessarily follow the recommendations of consultants," Nanney said in a 2003 interview.

The Pacer volume number is counted chronologically from the first issue of The Volette published Dec. 17, 1928, with the coming of a new academic year (measured from August to May) representing a new volume. Numerous editions of The Pacer bear the incorrect volume number, including the first edition under the masthead in 1971. Because the newspaper was not entirely reestablished when the name was changed from The Volette, the staff saw fit to correct this mistake in later issues.