University of Virginia Library

Faculty Advisor Quits
Wayne State Daily

Charging that factual reporting
was replaced with propaganda and
"bloody vulgarity," the faculty
advisor to Detroit's Wayne State
University student newspaper has
resigned after 21 years as advisor to
the paper.

Frank P. Gill gave the job up last
fall in "utter disgust" after the
newspaper was taken over by a
"New Left" faction, and then by
self-proclaimed black revolutionists,
it was reported in a recent issue of
"Editor and Publisher."

In spite of a large cut in volume
production of the newspaper, large
stacks of the college paper, distributed
daily, remain untouched.

As Mr. Gill explained, "It used
to be that you couldn't find a copy
by mid afternoon, and the night
students always complained. Now
you fall all over the piles."

After the leftist revolutionary
group took over the newspaper, the
name was changed from the Wayne
Collegian to the South End.

Mr. Gill went on to say, "I had
to quit when the paper ceased, for
all practical purposes, to be a
newspaper by and for the students.
I was fed up to the teeth."

After an active newspaper
career, Mr. Gill joined the Wayne
State journalism faculty in 1947
and served as advisor to the student
newspaper for 21 years.

Mr. Gill, now age 63, will end
his career at Wayne State University
at the end of March when he retires
from his teaching duties. He then
plans on moving to California with
his wife, Sibyl.

"I don't think I can remain
entirely inactive after more than 40
years in the newspaper business, so
I'll probably be looking for something
to keep me occupied in the
Pasadena area," he stated.

Mr. Gill's career as a newspaperman
began at the Toronto Star.

A former Detroit Free Press
reporter, Stanley Putnam, is Mr.
Gill's successor as advisor to the
South End.

The masthead of the South End
is flanked by two black panthers
and the declaration that "One
Class-Conscious Worker is Worth
100 Students."

The newspaper has been accused
of being anti-Semitic and Negro-racist
by some of Wayne State's
alumni. William R. Keast, president
of Wayne State University, has
accused the paper of printing
inaccurate news, shoddy language,
and "looseness of statement far
below any standard of responsible
journalism."