News
The Downfall of The Odyssey ,
Rachel Crawford, Staff Writer
Chances are, you’ve heard of
The Odyssey Online. Without a doubt,
you’ve seen one of their articles shared
onto your Facebook feed at some
point. The Odyssey is a news website
with contributing teams from over 75
colleges and universities. There is a
team of unpaid staff writers at each
college, as well as an editing team
with an editor in chief, a contributing
editor, a social media director, and a
photographer, who also receive little
to no payment. Then, there are the
salaried editors, who manage multiple
campuses from a central office in
Manhattan.
Junior Linda Sankat sparked
something of a revolufion when she
annouhced on March f8 that she
was stepping down from her Editor-
in-Chief position at the Odyssey’s
Meredith branch. “On the surface, it
may appear that I had no reason to
resign, but behind the scenes, I’ve
been to hell and back,’’ she wrote on
the Odyssey team’s private Facebook
page. “Over the past few months, I
have been incessantly harassed to
push you all to write tons of articles,
and to recruit more writers, just so that
the higher ups of The Odyssey could
make a profit. I simply cannot stand for
fhat. You all are much too talented to
be exploited by this disgusting Ponzi
scheme of a company.” Ever since
this Facebook post, many staff writers
have decided to step down from the
Odyssey in solidarity with Sankat.
Later, Sankat said she decided to quit
because the Odyssey staff treated
her and her writers like commodities.
Sankat said, “i knew that behind all
of that there are just these people
on top who are making a profit off of
our work...It just didn’t sit well with
me...I don’t like it when people are
taken advantage of,” Sankat also quit
because her supervisors pressured
her to put her Editor-in-Chief duties
over schoolwork. She wrote about
her boss, Liz Posner: “She would
constantly harass me, blowing up
my phone with texts and phone calls
during class.” The final straw for
Sankat was when Posner told her that
it was her “obligation” to answer her
phone, even during class. Sankat quit
almost immediately after that incident,
and ever since, she says it has been a
weight off her shoulders.
Sankat is not the only person
who felt disrespected by the Odyssey
staff. Damaris Griffith, a staff writer
who joined the team in the fall, had a
negative experience with managing
editor Posner regarding one of her
articles. Griffith wrote an article
titled “Why Education Is The Most
Important Thing In Your Life” about
how social change can only come
through education and patience. The
article’s main focus was not on racism,
but it did mention some examples of
racial ignorance and it contained one
sentence about a man who used
blackface. Despite the fact that it
was such a minor part of the article,
Posner pressured Griffith to change
the article’s cover photo to an image
of a man in blackface, which Griffith
refused.
Griffith said about this
incident: “Liz wanted to change the
photo to a photo of blackface, which
I WAS NOT okay with. That’s clearly
not what the article was about, and it
was a clear drive to get more views...
There were way more examples used
in the article that were not nearly as
controversial. When Liz asked to do
that, it’s pretty much when I realized
that the Odyssey was all about views.
I’m not entirely mad about that-
everything is a business. Prisons,
even non profits...but the fact that we
(as writers) we’re working to meet a
‘requirement’ every week, hosting ads
on our articles, and no money came to
us or as far as I know our editors, that
made me angry.”
Today, the majority of the
Odyssey’s writers have stopped
contributing due to disagreement with
the company’s values. Some writers,
however, have decided to stay on
the staff. Sarah Kincaid stands by
her decision to continue writing for
the Odyssey because she thinks her
articles can reach a certain audience
that other forms of media might not
be able to. “I know I am the unpopular
opinion here, but the reason I write
for the Odyssey is not only for the
experience, but also so maybe I can
write something [that] helps a fellow
college student get through a hard time
they might be going through,” Kincaid
shared on the team’s Facebook page.
Even though there are many
positive aspects to writing for the
Odyssey Sankat urges writers to at
least reconsider their contributions to
the website: “With Meredith being such
a close-knit sisterhood, the Odyssey is
just too corporate for our community...
If somebody really wants to write for
the Odyssey, they shouldn’t let my
experience deter them necessarily,
but I do urge those people who are
still writing for the Odyssey to look a
bit deeper into the inner workings of
fhe company and then decide if they
still want to continue.”
Avenging Angels Sweep the Weekend
Julia Allsbrook, Contributing Writer
April fools weekend was no
joke for Meredith tennis, softball, and
lacrosse as all three teams came out
with big wins on the weekend,
Meredith Tennis improved
their record to 10-6 overall and 8-3
in conference with big wins on the
road against Ferrum and Averett.
The Angels shut down the Panthers
of Ferrum 9-0, and the Cougars of
Averett 8-1. Sophomore Ran Zhang
continued her undefeated season
winning her singles match 5-0 and
her doubles match, alongside senior
Catherine Bryant, 9-8. The tennis
team plays at home this Saturday April
9 for Senior Day, against Maryville.
The Avenging Angel softball
team also did their fair share of
swinging this weekend after defeating
conference opponents Mary Baldwin
and Ferrum. The Angels matched
up against the Fighting Squirrels of
Mary Baldwin on Saturday April 2,
and recorded 17 runs with 24 hits
between the two games. The double
header on Sunday April 3 against
Ferrum was defensively driven as the
Angels won 3-1 in game one, followed
by 1-0 in game two. The Angels are
led offensively by senior Courtney
Saunders with 34 hits on the season,
and sophomores Brittany Bucklin and
Maria Annunziata with a combined total
of 54 RBIs. The Angels have improved
their record to 19-13 overall and 9-7
in conference. The Angels will travel to
Newport News VA, Wednesday April
6, to face non-conference opponent,
Christopher Newport.
Meredith Athletics continued
going strong on the weekend with a
big non-conference win from Meredith
lacrosse. The lacrosse team faced
off against non-conference rivals,
Rhodes, in Danville ’ Kentucky on
Saturday April 2. The Angels lost to
Rhodes last year in the first round
of the NCAA tournament; however,
this weekend’s storyline was altered.
The Angels defeated the Lynx 19-9
with key scores from senior Katie
Burnet and freshman Julie Capretti.
These win keeps the Angels first in
conference with a 5-0 record and 13-1
overall. The Angels travel to Ferrum
Saturday April 9 to match up against
the panthers.
Finally, the Avenging Angels
launched their very first track & field
program this spring. The team is
coached by Leslie Payne and has
a roster size of 21. The Angels have
competed in four meets on the season
with a 6th overall finish meet one and
an 8th overall finish in meet two. The
Angels next meet will be the Aggie
Invitational at North Carolina A&T
University this Saturday April 9,
A New Addition to the Communications Department
Avery Dubuque, Contributing Writer
In the upcoming fall semester
the communications department
will be welcoming in a new faculty
member. Alan Buck is currently a
professor at Campbell University and
has worked as an adjunct professor
at St. Augustine’s, Peace, and even
here at Meredith. His work specializes
in video production, social media,
film, television, and interactive media.
Before he was a professor, Mr. Buck got
his B.A. from UNCG in Media Studies
and his M.A. in Interactive Media
from Elon University. He also has a
freelance video and TV production
company, was a promotions manager
for WTWB, and was a videographer
for WLFL, WRDW, and WHNS. Alan
started off working in the field at a TV
station and worked his way up through
several stations until he became the
promotions manager for WTWB.
However, during that time, he got tired
of television and decided to go back to
school for his degrees, and graduated
with honors. He started teaching as an
adjunct while also doing his freelance
work and fell in love with it. He has
been teaching ever since.
Alan Buck describes his
teaching style as not being a teacher-
but instead, he likes to impose his
knowledge to help others apply it to
the real world. He is looking forward to
teaching at Meredith because he sees
the leadership in our students as an
important skill and the focus Meredith
students have as a benefit to the
classroom. He plans on bringing social
media, digital media, and interactive
media coursework into the curriculum,
and also wants to bring our students
to Chapel Hill’s TV station so they can
have internships and experiences as
part of a film crew. Mr, Buck is also
looking forward to doing workshops
with speakers for video classes and
looking at organizing resume building
clinics and events. He feels that any
student in today’s workforce needs to
have a digital media background in
order to be competitive when searching
for a job. If he had an unlimited budget
he would add a working TV studio to
the communications department and
start a media lab to allow campus and
nonprofit organizations to come in
tor media help; like his Digital Media
class did with Campus Kitchens last
year at Meredith. He wouid also love
to have an international component
either during spring break or in the
summer that would enable students
to travel abroad and be partnered with
a non-profit of their choosing. They
would have the task of producing all
the media necessary to sustain their
operations, such as producing a
promotional video, building a website,
taking all of their pictures, and setting
up social media accounts. The students
would get a great experience, and
the organization, who may otherwise
never be able to afford it, would get
all the help they need to operate in a
digital age. Lastly, Mr. Buck is looking
forward to learning and helping out
with all of the Meredith traditions, and
is ready to “just experience” everything
Meredith has to offer.