The Quadrangle for Nearly Half a Century By Jeremy Lane

The Quadrangle has had many different faces, both the people involved, and the very style of the newspaper. Each new student staff led to new styles of writing, new ideas, new politics and new skills. This was the point stressed by Mary Anne Wood-Thompson, who had been the head of the newspaper for 25 years. All in all, Mary Anne was the only constant of the Quadrangle, along with the integrity and professionalism that she demanded of the newspaper.
Her office in the Seminary building appears cold now, boxes all over the place, in correspondence with her near retirement. “I’ve been running into a lot of history lately.” She says, waving. And there is a lot of history, as the Quadrangle began in 1968, though Wood-Thompson started a few years later. “I think we were in debt $300 when I got here, so I went into Rick Pitino mode.” The student run paper’s biggest problems were financial. Students involved were by nature green to the way of newspapers, so selling ads was very difficult.

“[The students] would try to sell ads, and everyone thought we were the Jewish Community Center.” Wood-Thompson smiles as she tells this story. Of course, later advertising endeavors would use the full name of the school instead of the moniker of JCC. “[We were] selling food to pay for it. We had to throw out stories because it sometimes took us so long to sell ads.” Only if a student who was skilled in advertising or business came along would the paper be able to sell ads regularly. One business major came back and had “sold $1000 in ads in one week” Wood-Thompson recalls.

This was not always the case. “Some wonderful writers would come, and the newspaper would take on that feel, and the next group would be great newspaper editors, and I’d get used to that.” Each year would bring “wonderful blessings”, but also “serious problems-mostly money.” Editing was important, with “a tremendous amount of rewrites” One time a story was put up that Wood-Thompson considered to be bordering on libel. Wood-Thompson set up a conference call with the humanities department, herself, and a DC lawyer, who explained the legal ramifications of said piece (which could mean a lawsuit for false information that damages a person’s reputation). “If I had told them, it would have taken everything I had to hold them back, and they still might not have believed me, but they listened to the lawyer. They found out you can’t just print anything.”

This integrity was on a strong basis. In the early years, Wood-Thompson would pack a few students into her car, and drive up north for the National Convention of College Newspapers. Pat Shannon, a former feature editor in the early seventies, remembers one in Chicago.“Suddenly this little paper in Louisville’s rubbing elbows with some of the biggest [college] papers in America.” This was one of the “many adventures” (in Wood-Thompson’s words) the Quadrangle would face to create the professional feel of the paper.

Claudia Hendricks, another former editor and current LG&E public relations worker, spoke of the rewriting involved. Working out of Wood-Thompson’s apartment, often past midnight. “[The writing] would get torn up, and then we’d rewrite it, and then we’d tear it up again.” Articles went through a writer’s circle first, or maybe better named a gauntlet. The piece would be read, and “if anyone had a problem with any of it, they’d rewrite it,” Wood-Thompson recalls. “If you know your history, I was editor during Watergate.” Pat Shannon recalls. “Everybody, everybody wanted to impeach Nixon, and I happened to be a Nixon fan.” As editor, he had the final say, which led to the Quadrangle being one of the few newspapers not calling for a Nixon impeachment, a point of pride, according to Shannon. “Of course, looking back, we probably should have.” Shannon says, chuckling.

So, despite the many people who came and went, and the ever changing style of the Quadrangle, it seems to its former students/editors, that the constant, the brain of the Quadrangle was Mary Anne Wood Thompson. The newspaper won awards throughout its time “all because of Mary Anne Thompson” according to Claudia Hendricks. Pat Shannon seems to agree, “…of all the relationships from that time, my strongest one is with Mary Anne.” Both further went on to say that the paper was a “great experience.” Mary Anne’s opinion? “That [the paper was student run] to me meant more than anything… I sometimes advised very strongly, but I did advise.”

Mary Anne Wood-Thompson advised the Quadrangle for 27 years, from 1972 to 1999. The newspaper is now on hiatus, though many hope to see its return soon. Of course, the most constant piece of the paper’s history will be missing: Mary Anne Wood-Thompson.