Michael Barnett

Yesterday (Wednesday, May 3) marked my last day as Hatchet editor. Accordingly, this is my last blog post — and maybe my first all year. I didn’t like having a blog, especially with the authors of the SA and sports blogs showing me up with their almost daily posts. But I’ve enjoyed answering your questions and reading people’s insightful posts. I’ve also enjoyed reading the stupid posts.

Anyway, I’ve handed this blog, along with the rest of The Hatchet and my answering machine code, to Caitlin Carroll. Let’s see if she’s a more faithful poster than I.

Have a great summer.

Michael Barnett

So College Publisher, which provides the software to The Hatchet’s Web site, has started ranking college paper sites by hits. The Hatchet’s #17 among College Publisher’s over 300 sites, which is really impressive, considering we are the only non-daily in a top-30 that includes only daily papers from mostly state schools with HUGE student populations. Also impressive since hits on the blog site are not included in the rankings.

Top 100 Papers by Traffic on College Publisher in the Last 2 Weeks View Top 5
Rank Paper % Optimized
1 Daily Iowan, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 60%
2 The Chronicle, Duke University, Durham, NC 48%
3 The Battalion, Texas A&M, College Station, TX 60%
4 The Daily Texan, University of Texas, Austin, Austin, TX 72%
5 The Lantern, Ohio State, Columbus, OH 72%
6 The Observer, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN 60%
7 Michigan Daily, Univeristy of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48%
8 The Daily Orange, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 48%
9 The Cornell Daily Sun, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 48%
10 Daily Tar Heel, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 72%
11 Brown Daily Herald, Brown University, Providence, RI 60%
12 Daily Trojan, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 36%
13 Iowa State Daily, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 60%
14 The Daily Campus, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 60%
15 Arizona Daily Wildcat, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 60%
16 The Daily Illini, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL 48%
17 GW Hatchet, George Washington University, Washington, DC 60%
18 The Daily Free Press, Boston University, Boston, MA 60%
19 The Daily Targum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 48%
20 The Heights, Boston College, Boston, MA 60%
21 The Gamecock, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 72%
22 Daily Nebraskan, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 36%
23 Daily Mississippian, University of Mississippi, University, MS 72%
24 The Daily Utah Chronicle, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 60%
25 Daily Kent Stater, Kent State University, Kent, OH 60%
26 KY Kernel, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 72%
27 The California Aggie, University of California – Davis, Davis, CA 60%
28 Daily Collegian, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Amherst, MA 60%
29 Student Life, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO 48%
30 Tufts Daily, Tufts University, Medford, MA 48%
31 The Hilltop, Howard University, Washington, DC 60%
32 Daily Lobo, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 84%
33 Technician, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 84%
34 Daily Toreador, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 48%
35 Miami Student, Miami University, Oxford, OH 48%
36 Rocky Mountain Collegian, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 36%
37 Northeastern News, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 72%
38 The Traveler, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 60%
39 The New Hampshire, University of New Hampsire, Durham, NH 60%
40 Ball State Daily News, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 84%
41 College Heights Herald, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 60%
42 The Fairfield Mirror, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT 84%
43 Pitt News, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 48%
44 BG News, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 48%
45 Temple News, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 48%
46 The Daily Eastern News, Eastern Illinois University, Charelston, IL 48%
47 The Triangle, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 48%
48 The Northerner, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY 72%
49 Campus Times, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 48%
50 The Daily Aztec, San Diego State, San Diego, CA 48%
51 The Eagle, American Unversity, Washington, DC 36%
52 The Statesman, Utah State University, Logan, UT 60%
53 The Current, University of Missouri Saint Louis, Saint Louis, MO 60%
54 The Middlebury Campus, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 48%
55 The Good 5 Cent Cigar, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 48%
56 The Beacon, Florida International University, Miami, FL 48%
57 The Daily Vidette, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 48%
58 The Famuan, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL 72%
59 Central Florida Future, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 48%
60 Miami Hurricane, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 48%
61 The Spectator, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI 48%
62 The Emory Wheel, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 48%
63 The Sidelines, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 60%
64 The Parthenon, Marshall University, Huntingon, WV 48%
65 The Orion, California State University, Chico, Chico, CA 36%
66 Western Courier, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 60%
67 Maine Campus, University of Maine, Orono, ME 48%
68 Harbus, Harvard university, Boston, MA 48%
69 The Varsity, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON 24%
70 Signal, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ 60%
71 The Record, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA 48%
72 The Oracle, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 48%
73 Chicago Business, University of Chicago GSB, Chicago, IL 24%
74 The Eastern Progress, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 48%
75 The News Record, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 48%
76 The Justice, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 24%
77 Wharton Journal, Wharton, Philadelphia, PA 48%
78 Keene Equinox, Keene State College, Keene, NH 60%
79 The Tripod, Trinity College (CT), Hartford, CT 72%
80 Independent Collegian, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 48%
81 The Greyhound, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD 24%
82 The Bulletin, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA 48%
83 The University News, University of Missouri Kansas City, Kansas City, MO 60%
84 Chronicle, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT 60%
85 The Sagebrush, University of Nevada – Reno, Reno, NV 48%
86 The Review, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 72%
87 Index, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO 24%
88 Brock Press, Brock Univesity, St. Catharines, ON 24%
89 The Maroon, Loyola University – New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 60%
90 The Villanovan, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 36%
91 Houstonian, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 48%
92 The McGill Tribune, McGill University, Montreal, QC 24%
93 Volante, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 24%
94 Spartan Daily, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 48%
95 The Vanguard, Bentley College, Waltham, MA 72%
96 Los Angeles Loyolan, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA 72%
97 East Tennessean, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 48%
98 Pace Press, Pace University, New York, NY 48%
99 Vermont Cynic, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 48%
100 Clarkson Integrator, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 60%

Julie says:

What happened to the kid in the fire story?

And is it true Hatchet writers can’t write for the Daily Colonial? Someone on your staff told me, though she’s a staff writer for both.

Thanks for the comment, Julie, and for compelling me to make a post. I’m surprised I still remember how to do it.

Julie, I don’t know what happened to the student who was hurt in last March’s fire, though the article did note that he is no longer enrolled at GW.

As far as my policy on writing for other publications — not just the Daily Colonial — I think it’s fairly lenient, as evidenced by your friend’s being able to “work” for two newspapers.

Briefly, and broadly, Hatchet writers in sections that deal with sensitive or nonpublic information — news, sports, features — are NOT permitted to write for other campus publications. Good information, like a resource in an economy, is scarce, and I want to minimize the risk that other publications will get information we’ve worked hard to obtain.

Writers for our two other sections — arts, opinions — are free to do stuff for other publications, so long as they don’t use information or access they’ve gotten from their Hatchet work toward articles for other campus publications. Arts is the only section that really has writers doing double duty.

Julie, I suspect your friend writes for the arts section. Hope I answered your question.

The April Fools’ edition came out Thursday. I’m not a big fan of the annual joke issue. But blah, blah, blah, tradition, blah, blah, blah. I apologize if there aren’t enough anti-Semitic jabs and dildos in there for ya. There is some funny stuff. I recommend a few articles: “You need to get fucked,” in the opinions section; a story about Mary Kate Olsen (or was it Ashley?) in the arts section; and a news story about Hamas winning the SA election. Wouldn’t be surprised if that actually happened: Hamas gives out really good candy, Just kidding.

As always, I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Monday marks the start of The Hatchet’s unofficial, unplanned controversy week. On Monday, our sex issue hits the stands. Later this week is April 1, and veteran Hatchet readers know what that means.

College and sex are comparable to America’s relationship with apple pie – though the latter connection may be overblown. Almost every college paper puts out a sex issue. That means a lot of skin and articles about whether to spit or swallow (is there anyone who does the former?). Our sex edition is a little different. In the introduction to the sex edition of the Life section, features editor (and editor in chief-elect) Caitlin Carroll and I wrote:

When college students think of sex, we think of, well, the adjacent photo. Sex not only intrigues us because of its physical aspects, but also because of who’s doing it, where it’s done and why it sometimes doesn’t happen like it’s supposed to. We also shouldn’t lose sight of sex’s dangerous and deadly facets, among them sexual assault and sexually transmitted diseases.

In planning this issue, we sought to highlight some of the unglamorous parts of sex. If you’re not interested in the articles, you can look at the hot (but tasteful) photos. And if you don’t like the photos or the articles, well, this issue also contains the sexy Student Association election guide.

Enjoy.

Yeah, I’m probably the last person on this campus that should be pontificating about sex a la Carrie Bradshaw.

We’ve got some knockout photos that’ll make people want to have sex, but also articles that’ll get people thinking. I hope they make remarks like, “I thought the only gays at GW were male” and “Maybe I’ll go to the bathroom in the library instead of the Marvin Center.”

I strongly recommend four articles: Adam Tannenbaum’s on a one-credit self-defense class that teaches people (it’s open to males and females) how to hit an attacker in the balls several different ways; Nicole Wetherell’s frightening article on Washington’s AIDS rate; the return of Chick and Dick, The Hatchet’s foul-mouthed sex columnists from a few years ago; and, finally, my Pulizter-worthy article on sex in GW’s restrooms.

With Monday’s issue and April 1 a few days away, I’m sure I’ll look back on this week as one in which The Hatchet received an inordinate amount of letters to the editor (sorry, Kyle). I look forward to receiving feedback about both of this week’s issue on this blog. Oh, and if you have April Fools’ ideas, e-mail me at eic@gwhatchet.com.

Thanks.