Daily Collegian editor-in-chief Kelly Powers announced a “Big Move” on Thursday morning. The 131-year-old student newspaper is planning to move its newsroom to the new Donald P. Bellisario Media Center, which will open at the current location of the Willard Building in the fall of 2020. 

Earlier this year, the university announced it’d be knocking down the Collegian’s current home, the James Building, in order to build a $52.8 million hub for entrepreneurship and innovation downtown. 

Powers said Bellisario College of Communications dean Marie Harding offered an “external invitation” to the Collegian to rent out space in the new building. Although the Collegian will be renting space from the university, Powers asserted its editorial independence would not be compromised.

Known as the “Collegian Suite,” the newspaper’s new headquarters will be located on the third floor of the Bellisario Center and take up 852 square feet compared to its much more spacious location in the James Building. In addition to a newsroom, the Collegian will have designated desk space that Powers said “other” student news organizations have been invited to use. (Editor’s note: Onward State has received no such invitation to use the Collegian’s desk space and has no intention of accepting an offer — unless of course it is a dodgeball venue.)

The Collegian’s relocation is the latest news in a year of change for the publication, beginning with the announcement that it’d no longer publish daily last October.

A virtual tour tweeted out by the College of Communications last month gave a preview of what to expect in the new building. What seems to be the newsroom appears from 1:56-2:22 in the video.

An open design to encourage collaboration and creativity anchors state-of-the-art plans for the Donald P. Bellisario Media Center, set to open in 2020. Virtual tour created by Studios Architecture: https://t.co/FM1a4FIrkM

— Penn State Bellisario College (@PSUBellisario) October 15, 2018

 

“I would be remiss not to note that some of the staff feel hesitant about the seemingly forced exodus and limited options,” Powers wrote. “The culture of the office will surely shift with the decrease in space, as students often spend a sizable amount of time on the sunken couches and pass time working at the open desks of the James Building.”

There’s not yet word on where the Collegian will call home for the year between the time the James Building is knocked down next fall and when the Bellisario Media Center opens the following school year. Powers said her staff’s “immediate focus” is on finding a newsroom for that transition period.