Wesleying Explained

Wesleying
Type:Blog
Foundation:August 23, 2006

Wesleying is a blog dedicated to stories and news relating to student life at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. All of its content is written by current Wesleyan undergraduates. As an early example of a campus-wide student blog, Wesleying provided inspiration to several other college blogs and local publications.

Founding

Wesleying was founded on August 23, 2006, by Xue Sun and Holly Wood, both members of the class of 2008. They intended to create an online space that brought together the Wesleyan community, which they considered fragmented at the time. "[1]

One large part of Wesleying's mission is that the blog is not affiliated with the university in any official capacity. This idea has been a cornerstone of the blog since its development, as it allows students to voice concerns without administrative interference.[2] It is also a virtue that separates it from many of its peer institutions' college blogs.

Wesleying Today

Wesleying tends to get anywhere from 7,000 to 9,000 views per day during the semester, hitting 10,000-12,000 views on extremely busy days. The most recent record number of views in one day was 16,748 on October 29, 2012.[3] The most views for the blog in one day was 42,085 on May 6, 2009 when student Johanna Justin-Jinich was murdered inside the campus bookstore.[4]

Over the years, Wesleying has grown into a new outlet for important or controversial Wesleyan events, as well as national or global emergencies. The blog covered an incident of Fountain Avenue in 2008 when police swarmed a party on the college campus;[5] the 2009 on-campus shooting;[6] the snowstorm that overtook New England during 2011; and the Newtown shooting in 2012. Claire Potter, blogger for the Chronicle of Higher Education and former Wesleyan professor, praised the Wesleying staff for their reporting on the 2009 shooting, calling it "smart, concise, non-sensational, and informative."[7]

In 2012, Wesleying broke the news that Wesleyan would no longer be 100% need-blind for first-year domestic applicants, causing vocal protest among various students and alumni.[8] The issue was later covered by The New York Times,[9] NPR,[10] the Associated Press,[11] and other media outlets.

Subsequent leadership

After Sun and Wood graduated in 2008, Justin LaSelva '09 and Ashik Siddique '10 took over leadership roles of Wesleying.[12] [13] Once Siddique graduated, Zach Schonfeld '13 took over as the leader and editor of Wesleying after "casually inheriting" the blog from Siddique.[14]

Recognition and influence

In 2007, Wesleying won the award for "Best Alternative Media Outlet" from The Paper Trail, a segment of the Education section of U.S. News & World Report, beating out blogs of much larger universities.[15]

Several blogs have cited Wesleying as inspiration for their founding. The Middletown Eye reports that it "might never have opened, if it wasn't for the inspiration provided by the intrepid bloggers of Wesleying."[16] MiddBlog, the campus blog for Middlebury College, also says under their mission statement that their "site was inspired by a student project called Wesleying at Wesleyan University";[17] Middlebury's newer event website Middbeat also cites Wesleying as a source of inspiration for the site.[18] Additionally, Penn State blogger Davis Shaver says in The Student Newspaper Survival Guide that Wesleying served as inspiration for starting the blog Onward State.[19]

The blog has been cited by several publications, including The New York Times,[20] BuzzFeed,[21] The Daily Beast,[22] Gawker,[23] Stereogum,[24] Jezebel,[25] [26] Inside Higher Ed,[27] MSN[28] and other sources.[29] [30] [31] [32]

In April 2013, the blog's monthly page views exceeded 300,000 views.[33]

Notes and References

  1. Zach Schonfeld (August 23, 2011). WESTROSPECTIVE: Wesleying's Founding Five Years On.
  2. Saumya Chatrath (April 23, 2010). WesLive: New Campus Blog Official Version of Wesleying. Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved 2012-12-20.
  3. Connor Justice, Zach Schonfeld, Samira Siddique, and Lily Herman (October 29, 2012). Literal College Survival: Liveblogging Sandy. Wesleying. Retrieved 2012-12-20.
  4. Benjamin Soloway (September 5, 2011). Meet Wesleying. Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved 2012-12-20.
  5. Xue Sun and Holly Wood (May 16, 2008). Livebloggin' from Fountain. Wesleying. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  6. Beau Anderson (May 6, 2009). BREAKING: Student Shot and Killed at Broad Street Books, Spring Fling Cancelled. Wesleying. Retrieved 2012-12-20.
  7. Claire Potter (May 8, 2009). Got Him!. Chronicle for Higher Education. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  8. Justin W. Pottle (October 23, 2012). Students protest need-blind policy change. Middletown Press. Retrieved 2013-01-05
  9. Richard Perez-Pena (November 30, 2012). Elite Smaller Colleges Struggle to Cover Financial Aid. New York Times. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  10. Tovia Smith (November 27, 2012). As College Retool Aid, Can Entry Stay Need-Blind?. NPR. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  11. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/10/07/wesleyan-ends-need-blind-admission-policy/TDUZhmbxHbnhrwEqgPObhI/story.html Wesleyan ends 'need-blind' admission policy
  12. Liz Wojnar (December 8, 2009). WesCeleb: Ashik Siddique '10. Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved 2012-12-20.
  13. Ezra Silk (May 6, 2008). As founding members exit, Wesleying looks to the future. Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved 12-12-20.
  14. Justin Pottle (February 11, 2011). WesCeleb: Zach Schonfeld '13. Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  15. https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/paper-trail/2007/01/24/best-alternative-media-outlet-wesleyan-blog Best Alternative Media Outlet: Wesleyan Blog Trounces Ivy Competition
  16. Ed McKeon (September 12, 2008). The news from Wesleying. Middletown Eye. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
  17. http://midd-blog.com/2006/10/14/in-the-beginning/ In the Beginning
  18. Isabella Stallworth (February 27, 2013). Website Founder Compile Campus Events. Th Middlebury Campus. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  19. Kanigel, Rachele. The Student Newspaper Survival Guide. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
  20. Peter Applebome (May 25, 2008). Our Towns - A Spike in Screams Before Graduation. New York Times. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  21. Hillary Reinberg (October 10, 2012). The Strange History Of Wesleyan University's "Rape Factory" Fraternity. Buzzfeed. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  22. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2013/02/19/wesleyan-students-kicked-out-of-museum.html?cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon Wesleyan Students Kicked Out of Museum
  23. Emily Gould (September 24, 2007). 'Party on Fountain' Is The Best Wesleyan Joke Rap You've Never Heard. Gawker. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
  24. http://stereogum.com/41482/andrew_vanwyngarden/mp3/ New Old Andrew VanWyngarden (Of MGMT) - "Supervolcano"
  25. Web site: Baker. Katie. Desperate College Dean Warns Parents of the Dangers of Franzia. Gawker Media. 2 May 2013.
  26. Katie Baker (May 6, 2013). Wesleyan University's Tour de Franzia Meltdown Reaches Ridiculous New Levels. Jezebel. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  27. Paul D. Thacker (November 27, 2006). Return to Sender. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
  28. https://archive.today/20130129042743/http://now.msn.com/white-girls-no-colored-people-joke-offends-everyone White girl's 'No Colored People' joke offends everyone
  29. Bob Connors (May 1, 2012). Apology Over Offensive Poster at Wesleyan. NBC Connecticut. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
  30. Justin W. Pottle (September 27, 2012). Wesleyan protests lead to student discipline. Middletown Press. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  31. David Lord (September 21, 2012). Danny Brown & Kitty Pryde Perform Together At Wesleyan (Video). Prefix Magazine. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
  32. Joey Bunch (November 11, 2011). Hickenlooper decried by Occupy protesters at alma mater. Denver Post. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
  33. Web site: Wesleying. Tweet. Twitter. 2 May 2013.

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