The biggest CPJ story of 44 years ago!

By Kathy Davis

As an idealistic, aspiring student of journalism, I was excited and nervous at the start of Evergreen’s academic year in Fall 1980. After a year of study in a journalism group contract while reporting for the Cooper Point Journal, I spent Summer quarter sharing co-editing duties and stepping up to the sole CPJ editor position. 

The Orientation Issue had been well received. I had filled all the staff work-study positions and had high expectations for the team. 

While brainstorming the content of our first regular weekly issue, a student came rushing into the newspaper office to report an on-campus drug bust that resulted in the arrests of several students. Furthermore, when we learned that undercover enforcement agents had been posing as students in the sting operation, we knew what our front page story would be. 

More students dropped into the office in subsequent days. The one I recall in particular was a new freshman from somewhere in the heartland who reminded me of the corn-fed farm boys I’d grown up with in my native Wisconsin. He had chosen to attend Evergreen based on the school’s marketing as a diverse, progressive and welcoming place. He’d been anxious to make friends and he had. Unfortunately, one of his new best “student” friends turned out to be an undercover cop. 

Dropped onto a campus far from home, he was desperate to connect and find his place. Friends were friends. He was the trusting type. But that drug bust threw him into a world of distrust and rage at the institution he was now a part of. 

News vs. editorial

Back at the CPJ, the team rallied, and I assigned reporter Ken Sternberg to the story. Rereading his article today, I am impressed with the quality. It’s based on facts rather than opinion. Ken interviewed the campus security chief and housing director. He attended a meeting TESC President (and former Washington governor) Dan Evans held with “concerned students,” reporting on the president’s statements and the audience’s objections. 

Ken relayed what the arrested students told him about their relationships with the undercover agents, including claims the agents “pestered” them for drugs. Some said they were not read their Miranda rights when arrested and Ken got comments from the county prosecutor’s office and ACLU about that point.  

Meanwhile, our talented cartoonist and graphic artist, Craig Bartlett produced an editorial cartoon titled “NARCalypse Now!” showing Evans as Colonel Dan launching a military-style attack. 

The staff had lively discussions in typical TESC seminar fashion about where to run the cartoon — somewhere inside or next to the news story on the front page? We landed on the latter, which felt quite radical at the time.

(Side Note – Craig Bartlett went on to creative success after Evergreen, first working at Will Vinton’s claymation studio in Portland. He moved to LA and worked on the Penny cartoon for Peewee’s (Herman) Playhouse. He also created the cartoon series Hey Arnold, which my kids watched — as I kept telling them “I know him; we went to college together!”)

That CPJ also ran a first-person account by a student who had befriended one of the undercover agents, reflecting the personal betrayal of trust several students had echoed. 

Upon reflection

I dug out my personal journal and read what I wrote after putting this issue to bed. “I know we made some big mistakes. Well, maybe not BIG ones but more like several little ones. But we did it, by god! I refuse to be embarrassed or apologetic…..We’re students and we are all learning. This is our lab, our experiment.” 

In hindsight, I wish we had clearly labeled the cartoon and the personal essay as editorial and opinion to distinguish them from straight news reporting. 

Upon reading other faded CPJ issues I was involved with as reporter and editor (1979/1980), I am reminded that we considered ourselves serious journalists in training. It was an era when being a professional news reporter meant striving to be objective and present “just the facts” as a public and civic service. 

David Ammons, long-serving Associated Press state Legislative reporter, served as an advisor to the CPJ. He was also an important mentor to me as a student and beyond. Margaret Gribskov, who had taught our group contract, was our faculty advisor.  

One member of that fall 1980 CPJ team went on to a long career as a reporter and editor at Olympia’s daily newspaper. Another worked as a CNN reporter for a time. 

I landed an internship in House Democratic Caucus Communications, which led to my first permanent state job and the start of my 40-year career as a communications professional for state government. 

This background shapes my “old school” views of journalism and the news media. True journalism (at least as I learned it) is flailing and shrinking. Local news reporting is nearly extinct. Cable news follows every actual news story with a panel of opinion commentators. Don’t even get me started on the noncredible commotion that is social media! 

Now finished with full-time work, I am a new subscriber and reader of the current Cooper Point Journal. I’m taken aback at how different it seems now. The articles are long and many seem based on personal opinion or grievance, without being labeled as such. More essays than news stories. 

Having been in your shoes, I know working on the CPJ is not easy, and I support the students who take on the hard work and dedication to keep the paper going. I hope those about to graduate go on to fulfilling careers that will benefit from your experience at the paper. 

To the next incoming group of staff, I look forward to seeing where you take next year’s CPJ. And I look forward to staying informed of Evergreen community news and issues. “We don’t go into journalism to be popular. It is our job to seek the truth and put pressure on our leaders until we get answers.” – Helen Thomas