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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE STATE NEWS from Purpose Magazine

Dear State News Editorial Managers and Staff:


Purpose MagazineI am the adviser for Purpose Magazine and I have been a practicing journalist since September 1976.

It has been brought to my attention that The State News’ editorial managers have chosen a discriminatory policy concerning who can write for the independent, off-campus but MSU student-funded newspaper. Essentially, SN is taxing staffers and readers of Purpose Magazine without giving them representation in the paper and on the news staff.

Please know that Purpose Magazine is not a competitor of SN. Purpose Magazine, by giving voice to the voiceless, complements the off-campus student-subsidized newspaper.

In the professional world of journalism, countless journalists write for both newspapers and magazines without penalty from the newspapers.

Specifically in Detroit, journalists at The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press write for monthly and weekly magazines such as African American Parent Magazine, (Detroit) Hour Magazine, Essence, Newsweek, Time and others.

If legitimate, respected, internationally known, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers such as The News and Free Press allow their staffers to freelance articles to magazines, then surely it is unreasonable, unprofessional, discriminatory, immature and unintelligible for the SN student workers to see it as a conflict of interest to have articles by student journalists published in Purpose Magazine and SN.

Nevertheless, if the State News continues this discriminatory policy, I will do at least four things.

    1. I will go before the MSU Board of Trustees, issue a discrimination complaint and ask that funding be withdrawn from The State News and given to Purpose Magazine.
    2. I will file a complaint with the Office of Affirmative Action, Compliance and Monitoring.
    3. I will file a complaint with the Office of Student Affairs and Services.
    4. I will seek support from the Black Student Alliance, Arab Student Organization, Asian Pacific American Student Organization, Associated Students of Michigan State University, Alliance of Lesbian-Bi-Gay and Transgender Students, Council of Graduate Students, Council of Students with Disabilities, the Greek Governing Boards, Native American Indigenous Student Organization and any other group that represents students who are helping to supply the SN’s budget but aren’t being fairly represented by the off-campus, student-funded newspaper.

Please reconsider this discriminatory policy against the Purpose Magazine staffers.

Respectfully and sincerely,


Sandra Combs Birdiett
Purpose Magazine Adviser

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