The Echo Staff

We, the editing staff of Augsburg’s student-run newspaper, hold it as our mission to empower the voice of our student body while also facilitating community, resources and discourse across different groups on campus. We want to name that, since its founding in 1898, The Echo has actively prioritized the interests of whiteness over the interests of communities that are Black, Indigenous, people of color, queer and trans-identified and disabled. Given the collective passions of our staff and Augsburg’s increasing population of students of color, our commitment to our Augsburg, Cedar-Riverside and Minneapolis communities are as follows.

1.  Increasing readership and recruitment.

The Echo aims to increase readership and visibility amongst students, recruit new writers, increase writer retention and be a welcoming space for newcomers. 

2. Centering communities that are BIPOC and/or marginalized.

The Echo aims to recruit and retain more writers who are Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), and cover more stories on marginalized communities– that is, stories that highlight the interests of communities that are underrepresented or swept under the rug. We seek to become a paper that is anti-racist and explicitly addresses anti-Blackness. We seek to not only center BIPOC in our personnel, but to center BIPOC in our thought and practice.

3. High Journalistic Standards

The Echo aims to strengthen its journalistic writing skills and integrity. We want to be accurate, consistent and up to par with the journalistic standards of AP style insofar as those standards do not exclude community voices.

4. National and Transnational Coverage

The Echo aims to add a national and transnational-lens to our story coverage. We will cover stories that are relevant to the Augsburg and wider-Minneapolis community while also covering national and transnational stories that directly pertain to Augsburg students’ racial groups and ethnicities. 

5. Politically Active

The Echo aims to be politically active in its story coverage. Our journal will not shy away from doing political education stories or covering politically-charged issues.

In this next year, our hope is to build a culture at The Echo that centers the interests of our communities rather than the prestige of our editing staff and writers. We believe that increasing readership and recruitment, centering marginalized communities, committing to high journalistic standards, increasing our scope of coverage and being politically active are key aspects to this work. We welcome you to write for The Echo and share your perspectives, opinions and art. Please reach us at echo@augsburg.edu to get involved or to share any questions or concerns.