The Hilltop (newspaper)

The Hilltop

The newspaper on January 20, 2009.
Type	Collegiate Newspaper
Format	Print/Online Publication
Owner(s)	Howard University
Founded	January 22, 1924
Language	English
Headquarters	Howard University
Website	http://www.thehilltoponline.com

The Hilltop is the student newspaper of Howard University, a historically Black college, located in Washington, D.C. Co-founded in 1924 by Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston and Louis Eugene King, The Hilltop is the first and only daily newspaper at a historically Black college or university (HBCU) in the United States. [1]

The newspaper is a color tabloid with a print circulation of 7,000. Student activities fees collected from the student body partially support the newspaper, however, the bulk of the paper's operating budget comes from advertising revenue. The Hilltop boasts a full paid staff which consists of majors ranging from print journalism to biology.

The Editor in Chief is responsible for the daily operations of running the paper and overseeing the staff. The Editor in Chief is responsive to "The Hilltop Policy Board" which consists of the Editor in Chief, Business Manager, elected student body leaders and several administrators (including the Dean of the School of Communications and the Journalism Department Chair)-- each holding one equal vote. The board meets several times a year, most importantly to vote on an operating budget and student activities fee allotment for the newspaper and to select the successors to the Editor in Chief and Business Manager. The board has no jurisdiction to censor the newspaper in any way.

The Business Manager is responsible for overseeing the financial operations of the newspaper and reports to the Editor in Chief. However, like the Editor in Chief, The Business Manager is elected by and can only be dismissed by The Hilltop Policy Board.

The rest of the staff is hired and may be dismissed by the Editor in Chief.

The Hilltop was co-founded by acclaimed author and Howard alumna Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston never actually wrote for the newspaper, but provided guidance for student journalists.

The first issue of The Hilltop was published January 22, 1924. The front page of the first issue covered a timeless and sensitive Howard issue: registration follies. The paper was brief, chronicling events that took place the semester before, and touching on a few upcoming campus events.