With the recent announcement of Hamline’s plan to sunset the Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program, many publications with roots at Hamline are speaking out. Among these are Hamline’s Student Media Board publications, which include Zinesters Local 55104, Untold Magazine, the Fulcrum Journal and The Oracle. The student publications at Hamline are made up of a large community of students and faculty who work to create literary and artistic works. Through decades of work, these publications have shaped a unique and distinctive artistic culture on campus.
“Our kind of angle is to get the underground voices of Hamline to be able to express themselves,” Editor-in-Chief of Untold Magazine and senior Ben Schmidt said.
Untold Magazine is published once a semester and works as a multimedia journal to bring Hamline students’ creations to a wider audience. A similar publication is Hamline’s Creative Writing journal, the Water~Stone Review (WSR), which publishes submitted works of any writer rather than only Hamline students. However, this literary journal has been threatened by the aforementioned plan to sunset the Creative Writing MFA program that supports this journal.
“A threat to Water~Stone also seems like a threat to our student publications, even though they’re different departments,” Schmidt said.
With the large student journalism and publication population on campus, the news of a possible closure of the WSR has created widespread uncertainty about the future of support for these programs at Hamline.
“I think it shows that Hamline isn’t entirely on board with what we’re doing,” Untold Magazine Print Editor and senior Natalia Omundson said.
Though Hamline has not made any official decisions regarding the program, students are still expressing their concern for its future and student-led campus publications.
“Well, they can’t cut SMB [the Student Media Board], they can cut our support around it, they can cut off our advisors,” Schmidt said.
Without administrative support around student-led publications, it is difficult to see how they will continue to exist. The Untold Magazine staff have been outspoken online about saving the MFA program and the Water~Stone Review.
Another student journal on campus speaking out to save the Water~Stone and the MFA program is the Fulcrum Journal, which is an annual literary arts magazine where undergraduate students can publish their poetry, prose, short stories and artwork.
“[Student publications] are a unique way to celebrate the culture of our campus,” Editor-in-Chief of the Fulcrum Journal and junior Alejandra Rivera Rios said via email.
Student publications allow students to gain valuable experience in publishing works through collaboration, budgeting, extensive planning and creative execution.
“With a decision like this, it feels like it would create a ripple effect in reducing resources for student-led publications and set a bad precedent,” Rivera Rios said via email.
With a lack of resources, student publications would effectively be unable to operate. Without these journals, many valuable opportunities for student publication and expression would be limited.
“Through their [students’] art we can see their struggles, their ideas, and their opinions on the state of the world itself,” graphic design apprentice at the Fulcrum Journal and first-year Max Oliver-Machuca said via email. Student art has been an integral part of Hamline campus culture, allowing people to experience the world through another lens.
“I believe that art, especially student made art, is incredibly essential right now, as it seems like it is being taken away at every turn. The Water~Stone Review feels like a powerful warning for what might come next,” Oliver-Machuca said.
Students, faculty or staff interested in voicing their concerns to a wider audience may submit a letter to the editor or commentary in the Oracle. See ad below for full details.
