How UM-Flint Students Are Rebuilding The Michigan Times

FLINT, Michigan — After its disappearance during the 2023-2024 school year, The Michigan Times has officially returned to the University of Michigan-Flint campus.

The student-run newspaper, long considered a platform for campus news and student voices, resumed publication last month under new leadership and with renewed support from faculty advisors. Its new team includes writers Anij, Egor, Alyssa, and Maxwell, advisors Scott Atkinson and Caroline Rathburn, and editor-in-chief Ramla Ouedraogo. The team hopes to have nine writers and is seeking a managing editor.

Ouedraogo is a fourth-year student at UofM-Flint and grew up in Flint. She is majoring in communications with a minor in graphic design. With a passion for journalism and a commitment to truth, Ouedraogo wishes to become a reporter in the near future. With a growing team of writers and a clear vision to rebuild trust and engagement, the paper is working to reestablish itself at the intersection of campus life and the broader Flint community.

Flintside spoke with new editor-in-chief Ramla Ouedraogo, curious to learn what the paper’s resurgence will bring to UofM-Flint and its surrounding community. 

Flintside: Editor-in-Chief is a pretty big role, especially for a paper’s fresh start. What interested you in becoming editor-in-chief?

Ouedraogo: “Well, I want my career to be in journalism. So first, this was an opportunity for me to learn more about journalism, how to publish things, how things edit, all of that. UofM-Flint doesn’t offer any journalism degrees or classes. Now they do, with my advisor, Scott Atkinson, which I took last semester.” 

Flintside: What made you want to bring The Michigan Times back besides the aspect of wanting to do this for your career and the experience?

Ouedraogo: “A lot of students were disappointed that it left. [They] were confused why it left. A lot of students complained to the university, but that was out of their hands. The paper closed down because of a loss of student interest. They were trying to reignite it, and that’s how we got back here. But the main reason is also to inform the community.”

Flintside: Do you feel that there was an impact you could see as you were a student when, and before, the paper left?

Ouedraogo: “I would say so, yes. Keeping students informed and knowing they can trust us is a big thing. [Journalism] is under a bit of scrutiny, and a lot of people are kind of losing their trust in journalism. I think a lot of students trusted The Michigan Times. I want to build that trust back up and have them know that we’re here. I also want the Flint community to know that we’re here, that we’re credible and trustworthy, and that we’re here to give you guys the facts and be fair.” 

RELATED LINK: https://flintside.com/first-they-came-for-independent-journalists/

Flintside: Compared to other Flint and local newsrooms, what do you think that this rebirth of the Michigan Times will bring to Flint, or just the students of U of M Flint? 

Ouedraogo: “I feel like it’s really just the campus aspect, but also student journalism as well. I think there’s a different point of view that we can put out there. I would say a newer aspect, but also being fair and accurate, and involving more of the students with the community by putting out news, things they care about, and also involving the community more with the University of Michigan-Flint.”

Flintside: What was the process of building the paper back? Were you involved with a lot of it?

Ouedraogo: “So, there’s two parts. First, my advisors, Scott Atkinson and Caroline Rathburn, were [restarting] the paper because both were alumni of The Michigan Times and the University of Michigan-Flint. They’ve been through this; they know it. [They] kind of got that ball rolling to get the university interested in bringing it back. They started putting it out to students, saying we’re gonna host a meeting for people interested in joining The Michigan Times again.

They said they were gonna hire an editor-in-chief. I applied and got hired! [That’s] where most of the nitty-gritty started when we were trying to form, what is it going to be in the future? What do we want from writers? How many writers do we want? How are we gonna hire the writers? What are the writers gonna learn? So, it was pretty extensive.”

Flintside: How important do you feel that it was to bring this outlet back, for writers, the creative outlet, and the students?

Ouedraogo: “For writers, we have a lot of people interested, but a lot of them are in different majors. Even though people have different majors and career goals, there is still a high interest in journalism. Journalism isn’t lost. I think giving people a platform who like journalism, who like to write, who like to inform, and keep the community updated, was a big part.

[Informing] the community was also a big thing, because we’re tied to the campus but also to Flint. We combine both. [We’re] right in the heart of downtown Flint, and students on campus are still worrying about what’s going to happen in the city that their campus is in.” 

Even in this brief blurb outlining what she intends to do with her days at The Michigan Times, the impact Ouedraogo hopes it will have on both the University of Michigan-Flint and the city itself speaks volumes about the success the rebooted paper will have. 

To learn more and follow The Michigan Times‘ journey, visit their website.