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The Cadet, Virginia Military Institute’s student newspaper, was awarded the Virginia Press Association’s top honor, the 2022 VPA Journalistic Integrity and Community Service Award, during the association’s annual VPA News and Advertising Conference on May 6.
The award was presented in recognition of its promotion of open and productive dialogue on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs at VMI. The project involved the entire community over two academic years and led to tangible and significant positive accomplishments, according to a press release from the VPA.
The Cadet insisted that the implementation of the DEI program from Virginia’s governor be conducted in an open and transparent manner and consider the voices and views of all stakeholders – alumni, cadets, parents, faculty, and staff.
The outcome, according to the VPA statement, resulted in robust dialogue among cadets and faculty without fear of expressing views to their peers through the newspaper; free speech and tolerance of alternative views increased after the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the Student Law Press Law Center issued violation warnings to VMI; and a reduction in the administration’s attempts to suppress or control the student newspaper.
“It is important to remember that the staff of The Cadet is not comprised of professional journalists, secure in their careers, but rather student journalists. As cadets at a military academy preparing for careers in the U.S. military, they are subject to a rigor and scrutiny of their activities far greater than those of student journalists in traditional public and private universities around the country,” wrote the contest judge who reviewed the entries. “Simply put, these young people put their academic and professional careers on the line for what they believed.”
The student journalists’ beliefs included “balance between opposing sides” that resulted in movement “from a discussion to a debate and finally dialogue” that resulted in a climate to enable informed and reasonable positive change, as outlined in their supporting statement.
“This is as clear an operational definition of journalism fulfilling one of its primary functions by providing a public forum for the discussion of ideas important to the community it serves as I have heard,” the judge wrote.
In his review of the award submission, the judge consulted the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to analyze The Cadet’s work.
He noted that The Cadet staff did “examine their own cultural values and avoided imposing those values on others,” they did “give voice to the voiceless” and they did “distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. And perhaps most importantly, under the tenet “act independently,” they were “vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.”
The student journalists were under tremendous pressure from a variety of sources as they pursued their objective “to seek truth and report it,” wrote the judge, adding that in addition to their work as journalists they were also cadets in a highly demanding and competitive environment with pressures of its own.
