In addition to a routine review of its style sheet, The Eagle will create an internal equity guide, Editor-in-Chief Clare Mulroy and members of the paper’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion group announced Thursday.
Members of the DEI group will work to create the equity guide over the coming months and will use a recently published equity guide from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism as a blueprint.
Staffers who are creating the equity guide will look into collaborating with student-run college publications in the D.C. area to ensure The Eagle’s guide is comprehensive and inclusive of Washington history.
The creation of an Eagle equity guide follows the recent addition of guidelines for reporting on people with disabilities to the paper’s own style sheet, and comes as staffers and DEI members begin a routine review of the document.
DEI members also spoke about how managing and section editors can work with their writers to ensure stories are authored through different lenses with a variety of perspectives and opinions.
To educate staffers, the DEI group plans to host more mandatory training sessions and workshops after fall semester recruitment concludes in September and will tailor the events to focus on hands-on and continuous learning.
Following a full return to campus in August, and in preparation for fall recruitment, DEI members said they will soon begin regular outreach to first-year students, marginalized communities and other student groups on campus.
DEI members hope this will open a two-way street for communication that may include story tips and suggestions for future coverage, they said Thursday.
The DEI group is also exploring how The Eagle can further diversify its coverage and create a stronger presence within campus communities this fall.
Other plans include expanding the paper’s contributing writer program, Identities section and creating a multimedia piece about international students’ return to American University.
