Heads Up For The Bottom Line

The student run magazine, The Bottom Line, will be revived on Oct. 26, with the mission of informing and educating students, staff, and faculty about what’s going on in the world, beyond our campus realm.

The Bottom Line, published last semester online, will return to the world of print alongside its website, www.liupostbottomline.com.

“Students want a hard copy in their hands,” said Grace Oshin, a senior broadcasting major and journalism minor, who has taken over as the editor of The Bottom Line this year. Jeremie Rosario, a freshman pharmacy major, agreed. “I would prefer a hard copy, because it can physically get my attention,” he said.

The Bottom Line’s first issue of the fall semester will contain 16 pages, front-to-back, following the 2016 presidential election and its political impact on fashion, lifestyle, and culture in the U.S. Oshin hopes that connecting these topics in a “cool and creative way” will grab students’ attention.

Returning not only with a renewed domain, the magazine’s layout joins the renaissance with a pop of color. Past issues had mostly black and white pages, with the cover in color, but Oshin plans to change that. “I want people to be attracted to it,” she said. Cover designer Candice Licalzi, an M.S. student in arts education, has much in store for the first issue. The cover will feature her own art style.

Creative minds are at work behind the magazine’s production. Oshin and her newly built staff want to make the magazine stand out with fun and interactive content both online and in print. Previously, The Bottom Line was a platform for ideas that did not cover many topics of interest to the students, from what Oshin has heard. “I don’t want to stifle anyone’s creativity,” she said.

The online edition of the magazine will allow readers to take quizzes, submit ideas, answer polls, watch videos, and leave comments. The addition of the magazine’s social media links on the website will make it more user friendly, an aspect of the website that has been lacking.

“I am very pleased to see The Bottom Line is coming back to life,” said Barbara Fowles, chairperson of the department of communications and film. The magazine will serve as another home for different forms of writing other than conventional news, making room for longer articles, and to feature pictures and artwork by students. “It would be wonderful if students around campus were to begin to see The Bottom Line as a publication where they can display their talents to the entire community,” Fowles added.

The magazine staff believes that a print platform is essential to attract students, who already are bombarded by options to read online. Oshin does not want to disappoint her staff. “I want to see them proud of their work,” she said.