Colleges and universities can be some of the most powerful institutions in a community, shaping where people live, work, study and spend their money. But journalists often overlook the stories happening beyond the classroom.
That was a central message Oct. 2 during “Campus is a City: Covering Colleges as Accountability Beats,” a panel at SPJ 2026.
The panel featured journalists from the Columbus Dispatch: Emma Wozniak, a development, housing, retail and economic issues reporter; Sheridan Hendrix, a higher education reporter; and Nicole Kraft, professor of practice at The Ohio State University and advisor for the school’s newspaper, The Lantern. They discussed how journalists can use public records, build relationships with students and maintain independence while covering higher education.
Kraft said journalists need to rethink how they define a college campus.
“When you are reporting on higher ed, you need to start thinking about it like the socioeconomic, social justice, societal collective that it is,” Kraft said. “How we cover it has to change.”
Too often, Kraft said, coverage focuses on surface-level events happening at colleges and universities, despite the broader effect those institutions can have on their surrounding communities.
Hendrix said these are not just places where people go to receive an education. They are also major economic, cultural and athletic institutions.
Student journalist listen as panelist discuss the challenges and opportunities of covering college campuses as accountability beats during the SPJ annual conference. Photo by McKenna Manzo.
“The colleges and universities and even the K-12 districts have a huge impact in the world around us,” said Hendrix. “It’s not just about what happens around us; it is about the economic powerhouses, the cultural powerhouses, the athletic powerhouses that these institutions really are.”
Hendrix said her own experience showed her how quickly a seemingly routine campus story can become something much larger.
While covering rural Ohio in 2021 for the Columbus Dispatch, Hendrix encountered a report that a student had died. The initial information suggested the death could have been related to a drug overdose or excessive drinking. But as Hendrix and her colleagues continued investigating, they discovered it was connected to hazing.
What initially appeared to be a breaking news story became a deeper examination of hazing and the laws governing such incidents in Ohio. At the time, Hendrix said people charged with hazing could face a fourth-degree misdemeanor, equivalent to receiving a parking ticket. This raised questions about whether the consequences matched the seriousness of the harm involved.
For Hendrix, the story illustrated why reporters should not stop at a university’s initial explanation of an incident. Good sourcing, she said, is essential to finding those deeper stories. That includes relationships with higher education spokespeople, faculty members and students.
Sometimes, officials will voluntarily provide information that they are not required to release. Other times, reporters have to look elsewhere.
Students can be particularly valuable sources because they may have access to information that is difficult for journalists to obtain through traditional records requests.
“Reporters can ask students whether they received an email from a university administrator about an incident and whether they can share it,” Hendrix said.
Public records can provide another layer of accountability.
Hendrix encouraged reporters to regularly request university and college contracts, employee salaries, personnel files and donations. She said she requests records of donations to the university above $100 once or twice a year, using them to build a database of people and organizations that repeatedly give money to the institution.
Reporters should also think beyond traditional records, she said, including emails and messages from platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Slack.
Wozniak also emphasized the value of paying attention to what students are experiencing firsthand.
While serving as editor-in-chief of The Lantern, Ohio State University’s student newspaper, Wozniak said she was surprised by how many people outside the university followed student journalism.
That reach can make student reporters valuable partners for professional newsrooms, particularly because they are often closer to the communities and issues they cover.
“When you are looking for student sources, meet them where they are,” Wozniak said.
She encouraged journalists to use platforms students already frequent, including Reddit, both to understand conversations happening within campus communities and to identify potential sources.
For professional reporters, the panel’s message extended beyond simply finding stories on campus. Hendrix encouraged journalists to consider the relationship between higher education and the communities surrounding them, often referred to as the “town and gown” relationship.
“Higher education is more than just an education beat,” said Hendrix. “It’s about understanding how these institutions interact with the communities around them and how their decisions affect people who live, work and study there.”
Featured photo by McKenna Manzo.