This semester, The Crimson White will undergo some changes in leadership. In a letter sent to Chris Roberts, chairman of the Media Planning Board, on Monday, Dec. 22, Deanne Winslett, a senior majoring in journalism, announced her formal resignation from the position of editor-in-chief.
“Being their editor has been the highlight of my collegiate career,” Winslett wrote of the Crimson White student staff. “I can’t offer any words powerful enough to accurately describe just what it has meant to me.”
Winslett said she made the difficult decision to resign as a result of ongoing health concerns in her immediate family.
“I think that my attention is just split too much, and so I think it just made sense to resign at this point in time,” she said.
In her letter of resignation, Winslett expressed her appreciation for members of The Crimson White, and said she will continue to support the organization, though not in any official capacity.
“I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be editor-in-chief of The Crimson White, and I am thankful for the professional staff members who supported us during my term as editor,” she wrote. “I will continue to support our organization after my resignation, and I look forward to seeing what amazing things The Crimson White students will accomplish in the Spring semester.”
Roberts said he was impressed by the success of The Crimson White under Winslett’s leadership, and is sad to see her go.
“She did an excellent job,” Roberts said. “The transition from a broadsheet to a tabloid is a pretty difficult thing and she pulled it off well, and obviously has put together a good staff.”
With the position open, Winslett recommended Andy McWhorter, a senior majoring in English and history who previously held the position of production editor, to take over as editor-in-chief until his graduation in May.
“He has done a tremendous job this past semester and doing stuff he has to do to get the paper out,” Roberts said. “He will step in and I think it will be a seamless transition.”
McWhorter, who has been working with The Crimson White for two years, said his nearly five years of experience in professional journalism has prepared him for the job, and he is excited to take over for Winslett in order to continue The Crimson White’s success.
“We’ve had a very successful semester, and while we are sad to see this kind of change in our staff in the middle of the year, I think we are in a great position to capitalize on the success we’ve already had and really close up the year really strong and really find ways to serve our students and to be the best student news organization we possibly can,” McWhorter said.
He said the next editor-in-chief will assume the position at the end of the publication cycle in April, and the Media Planning Board will make the decision of who to appoint as editor-in-chief at that time.
“The candidate pool is sort of working itself out. I think we’ve got a few good people who are really interested in the job,” McWhorter said. “I will work with whoever the board selects as incoming editor-in-chief to get them acclimated to the job, and at the end of the semester they will take over entirely.”
McWhorter said one of his priorities as editor-in-chief will be to focus on The Crimson White’s online presence in order to better serve the University of Alabama community.
“I think really making our online presence more complete, more consistent,” he said. “Even when we are not in print, would go a long way to serving our students constantly, to giving them a service that they can do something with, to making them informed about what’s going on in the community, and really making The Crimson White more of a robust, consistent presence, not only at The University of Alabama but in Tuscaloosa as a whole.”
