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Still here after all these years
Who knew that for Eric Jacobs '80, four years at the 'DP' was just a start? Certainly not him. After 25 years as the newspaper's GM, here's his story.
By Dan Gingiss '96
When most DP staffers graduate, they leave behind fond memories of their time at the newspaper.
Eric Jacobs '80 was a little different. He too has fond memories, but he never left them anywhere because he never actually left.
Jacobs, a reporter and editor for the newspaper during his college years, took a position on the professional staff of the newspaper immediately upon graduating. A year later he became the DP's first (and so far only) General Manager.
At the DP's annual banquet in January 2007, Jacobs was honored for his twenty-five years in the position.
Jacobs recently shared some memories of his tenure with the DP Alumni News. Here is the full version of the interview which appeared in abbreviated form in the February 2007 newsletter.

Q. Let's go back to the beginning: what did you do at the DP when you were a student at Penn?
A. I started as what is now called a General Assignment reporter in my first semester freshman year, fall 1976. I became a beat reporter at the start of the next semester, covering first student government and then a beat called Operational Services, which included Facilities, Dining Services, the Bookstore, Campus Security, and more. A year later, I became City Editor on the 94th Board, which at the time was a position that did some reporting and writing as well as assignments and editing. The following year, on the 95th Board, I was co-Managing Editor. The second semester of that year, I focused on special projects, one of which was heading a committee which researched and eventually signed a contract for the DP's first newsroom computer system.

Q. You became General Manager in 1981, so what was your position for the year after you graduated?
A. I don't think it even had a title when it first began! We used to have an office Secretary, who assisted in running the business office during the school year. We usually closed during the summer. In the summer of 1980, I proposed to Business Manager Michele Benowitz '81 that the DP hire me to keep the office open that summer in order to work on planning and implementation of new advertising sales strategies and to oversee the installation of our first-ever computer system from Mycro-Tek in the newsroom. My employment by the DP was supposed to last from the summer into the early part of the fall semester -- perhaps four months.

Late in the summer, the office Secretary said she was not returning for the 1980-81 school year, and I felt there was a lot of unfinished business, so I agreed to stay on for the school year in a position we then called Office Manager. During that year, one of the things I did was visit a number of other college newspapers during school vacations, as part of an assessment of how to build the DP's advertising and business operations. We found many large college dailies had a full-time staff headed by a General Manager, and discussions at the DP began about whether to have such a position: Could we afford it? Would it undermine student control of the paper? Along the way, I decided I really liked the work I was doing; I saw so much potential and so much yet to be done, and I realized I'd love the opportunity to continue working at the DP in such a capacity. So I approached Business Manager Rich Rabinoff '82 to apply for the position -- and the Board turned me and the position down! A short time later, after more discussion, the Board reconsidered, approved the creation of the General Manager position, and hired me to fill it. And so, at the end of the spring semester of 1981, I became the DP's first -- and so far only! -- General Manager.

Q. When you accepted the job as General Manager in 1981, did you ever think you'd be still at it 25 years later?
A. Hardly! I'd have laughed out loud had anyone suggested such an idea at the time. I thought there was a lot of exciting work to be done, but I figured I'd do it for a few years until I figured out what I wanted to do "when I grew up." And it was a little tough at times during that first year or two: the pay was pretty low, and all my friends were in grad school or working for major companies and establishing their careers -- and here I was still working at my college newspaper! It was eye-opening to go to conferences and meet my counterparts at other college papers, and realize there were people who really did this for a living! Even then, I never expected this was something I'd be doing for such a long time. But there were always new challenges to tackle, new projects to accomplish, new things to learn, new things to create, and it just never settled into a boring job. I guess somewhere along the way, I stopped trying to figure out how this played into some ultimate career path, and just decided I'd see where it led. And here I am, 25 years later! It's pretty unbelievable even to me.

Q. Could you describe your current job responsibilities?
A. My job spans a wide range of areas, which is one of the things that's made it interesting for so many years. One minute I'm reviewing a legal contract or creating an architectural drawing for an office renovation; the next I'm planning the logistics of a computer hardware and software upgrade or auditing a set of financial statements or talking to an editor about a story in the paper or a manager about a new marketing plan. The DP has so much going on that some days, I feel like I'm the literal 'jack of all trades, master of none.'

So what do I actually do? I'm a member of the student Executive Board (the DP's Board of Directors) as well as a member of the Business Board (the business management team), providing training, historical context, and continuity. I serve as an adviser to the Executive Editor and Business Manager. I direct the other four full-time professional staff members. I review financial statements produced by the student Finance department, put together our annual capital budget, plan our future technology directions and purchases, get cameras repaired and plan office renovations. I maintain our professional relationships with lawyers, accountants, our printer, our national advertising representatives, our web technology partners and our key software vendors. I serve as a liaison with the DP Alumni Association Board, and plan and execute, along with my staff, DPAA operations such as memberships, mailings, the Alumni Directory, etc.

I'm also very active on a national level as an advocate for the DP and college media in general with organizations and companies that provide revenue and technology to college newspapers. I currently serve as Secretary/Treasurer for the Western Association of University Publications Managers (WAUPM), and have previously served in a variety of positions -- including President -- for College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers (CNBAM), which has honored me with its Distinguished Service Award. I've served on a number of national advisory committees for companies serving the college newspaper market, and have done consulting for a number of other college newspapers on technology and governance issues. Later this month [January 2007], I'm being flown to Las Vegas by the Newspaper Association of America to be honored with their Newspaper Advertising Educator of the Year Award. I'm proud to get such national recognition, not just for myself, but for the DP.

Q. What are some of the biggest changes you've seen at the paper during your tenure?
A. Geez, twenty-five-plus years summed up in a few paragraphs, huh? That's tough!

* Installing the DP's first computer system in 1980. We were ahead of most college papers, with a system of networked desktop computers that was way ahead of its time -- this was before the first IBM PC and way before the Apple Macintosh.

* Renovating the DP's office, from the post World-War II surplus look into the "Pink Palace" that stands today. (After a major, $100,000+ renovation in 1987, the office was dubbed the "Pink Palace" because the floor tiles and paint trim looked, well, a lot more "pink" than the subtler "mauve" it had looked like on the architect's tiny sample board. Even though the trim was later changed to a darker cranberry color, the name has stuck for 20 years.) We didn't have the money to do the entire office at once, so we renovated about two-thirds of the space in 1987. Over time, we renovated the old composing room, and renovated out of existence the old darkrooms; in fact, the last small darkroom was just renovated to become the new home to the Editorial Page editor.

* Expanding the paper from a typical 6-8 pages to today's typical 12-16 pages. Much of that change was fueled by a period of major advertising growth in the mid 1980's.

* Independence from Penn. After nearly a year of negotiations, the separate incorporation of the DP in 1984 was a landmark event that forever guarantees the newspaper's independence from editorial or financial control of University officials.

* Creation of a business workflow and computer system to run it. In 1981, Business Manager Rich Rabinoff '82 and I had a long lunch at Roy Rogers in which we mapped out on napkins how to completely revamp the workflow of DP Business, and how we wanted to create computer software to integrate everything. I still have Rich's color-coded flowchart that came from that meeting in my files! With my computer background, I wrote the original software system. It's evolved considerably over 25 years, but the concepts and basic functionality are still very similar today. I'm very proud of the fact that the software company we hired to develop a new version of the system in 1992 has gone on, with our approval, to sell our system to more than 25 other college newspapers, and it's now their full-time business to support and enhance it.

* Creation of the DP Alumni Association in the mid 1980's. There had been several prior efforts at establishing an alumni organization, but all had sputtered out of existence. The presence of full-time professional staff to generate and send out mailings and process memberships provided the continuity to make the DPAA sustainable for the long haul. We're 20 years along, and have what is probably the best alumni association among all college newspapers in the country -- and I'm sure we've only scratched the surface so far of what we can do for both alumni and students.

* The launch of The Summer Pennsylvanian in 1984, The Weekly Pennsylvanian in 1989, and DailyPennsylvanian.com (originally "DP Online") in 1995. The DP is a much larger and more complex enterprise now than it was just two decades ago. Each new launch took a lot of people's hard work and a leap of faith, and each proved to be successful. (I can't wait to see what's next!)

* Moving to full computer pagination and daily full color in 1996. The advancement of desktop publishing software, more powerful computers, and digital phone lines allowed us to achieve the holy grail of producing the entire newspaper on computer without razor blades and light tables, wax, chemical processors; without a courier standing in the comp room over someone's back waiting for the last page to be pasted-up; and with full-color photos on a daily basis. We were one of the first college dailies to get there, and we later consulted with many others on our hard-learned lessons about how to do it.

* Moving to digital photography in 2001 -- the final nail in the coffin of film, chemicals, and darkrooms. Photographers were no longer limited by the film we could afford. Photos could be digitally stored and archived. (We still have six file cabinets, four bookcases, and several boxes full of negatives and prints from the 1970's through the 1990's which we have no idea how we'll ever sort, identify and digitize.)

* Creation of student scholarships in 2001. We had long wanted to create some type of financial award to students who might otherwise not advance, or might leave, the DP because they needed to work and couldn't devote their time to the DP. In the economic boom of the dot-com era, we finally were able to put aside money to establish a scholarship fund, and I was excited that we worked through the logistics to create a scholarship program. I was blown away that the Board honored me by putting my name on the scholarship program -- that usually happens only to people who donate a big pile of money or who have died!

* Evolution of a professional staff who help provide students training in DP and life skills, yet don't diminish the valuable experiences students gain from directing a paper that remains truly student-run. Although we used to have more employees (for production work), the four people I work with today work their tails off to help the DP and our students succeed. Dave Graham and Katherine Ross have both been with the DP for more than a decade now, and I'm indebted to them for many of our accomplishments -- and for keeping me laughing every day.

Q. What's it like working with a completely different set of editors and managers every year?
A. It's tough, but it's the nature of the job. And the tough part is not so much that each year brings new people who need the same training and education as their predecessors; providing that training is a rewarding part of my job. No, the tough part is working with bright, talented, energetic, fun students for a brief while, and then having them move on. Okay, I'll admit that there are a few that you're happy to see move on after a year -- but that's the small minority! Most, I'm sorry to see go. They've learned to do their jobs well... they've learned to work well with the team around them... they're ready to go do great things -- but their time at the DP is up. Those great things will happen for them, but elsewhere. It's very hard to let go of so many students you come to really like and enjoy working with.

You know, after reminiscing about new ventures and new technologies over the last quarter century, I need to point out that all the DP has accomplished and achieved still comes down to hard work and long hours by scores of Penn students cranking out a new issue every day. The technology they use is different, but the fundamental job of selling an ad or reporting a story or selecting the best photo really isn't so much different from when I became General Manager or worked here as a student. The toughest challenges then, as now, are in organizational dynamics, staff motivation and development, and finding the time to do the legwork required to put out a great newspaper every day. So as much as things have changed over 25 years, I often find myself using the French expression "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" -- usually around the time the greasy pizza arrives each night!

One of my great regrets is that I'm constantly so busy, I don't do even a halfway decent job of keeping in touch with many of the students who I've enjoyed working with. I'm always so happy to see what they're accomplishing when they write in for the DPAA newsletter or for the biennial DP Alumni Directory, or when they stop back to visit for Homecoming or Alumni Day, but I kick myself for not finding time to stay in contact with many people after they've left the DP and left Penn. Of course, with 25 years of editors and managers to keep track of, that could be a full-time job in and of itself!

Q. What are some of your most memorable moments during your tenure at the DP?
A. It's hard -- but fun -- to think back over 25 years and pick out a few isolated memories; my mind jumps around picturing so many different editors and managers it would take pages just to list them all. But here are a couple...

Some memories are tied to new equipment and technology achievements over the years. I can distinctly recall the first night publishing with each of the new publishing systems we installed, from Mycro-Tek in fall 1980 -- it was so quiet with no typewriters and everyone concentrating intently on their computers that you could have heard a pin drop in the newsroom all night long -- to QPS in fall 1992, to our new K4 system in fall 2006. Thank goodness each has turned out to be a sound and reliable choice for the DP.

Speaking of nights of production, I fondly recall the all-nighters with Business Board members typing, sorting and pasting-up our Valentine's Day personal ads for many years in the 1980's into the 1990's. Competition from other student groups eventually killed off our Valentine's section, but in its heyday, we produced as many as four pages of individual ads -- hundreds of 'em, mostly little 1x1's -- with color overlays in a massive effort that often resulted in breakfast after sunrise at McDonald's.

Talking about the Business Board, I have great memories of the annual summer planning session/retreat/cookout I've hosted at my house for 23 consecutive years now. I remember the first one, in 1983, as if it happened last summer. I was living in an apartment in Bensalem outside the city, before I was married. Mike Weiner '84, Lisa Goldberg '84 and Eric Brachfeld '84 came over one late summer day, and we sat around the apartment's pool all day mapping out a new sales training program. Within a year or two, the event grew to include the whole Business Board, and sometimes carried on well into the night; I recall one time some people wanting to watch then-hot show "Dallas" that night, so we just stopped the business planning for an hour to watch TV, and then continued talking business until nearly midnight.

Sometimes, the DP itself became the news. None stands out more than the April, 1993 morning when I got an early morning phone call in the office from an anonymous tipster that he had just seen people taking all the DP's out of newspaper racks in his building. Another call followed, with additional information on a flyer announcing that the papers were being taken by the "Black Community" as a protest against what they claimed was institutional racism. I called campus police, and then ran over to the police headquarters where I tried -- mostly in vain -- to convince the University Police Commissioner that people stealing a newspaper were committing a crime, not just engaging a valid free speech protest. (He just couldn't grasp that the newspapers had "value" because they were distributed for free.) By early afternoon, we had gotten our printer to bring a press crew back in and reprint more papers, and business and editorial staff members joined in hawking papers on Locust Walk.

There are many memories of internal discussions and debates at the DP, and the most heated ones tend to stand out. In late 1986, the DP's Board of Managers was creaking under the weight of expansion; too many people on the Board made progress at meetings difficult. After one heated meeting near the end of the year about something as mundane, as best I recall, as who should have keys to which offices, Business Manager Jeff Metcalf '87 walked out and resigned in protest. But that protest broke a logjam and paved the way for others on the Board to swiftly complete a sweeping overhaul of the DP's Bylaws, creating the Executive Board, Editorial Board/Business Board structure that has worked extremely well for the ensuing 20 years. Another major Board debate took place a few years later, over the question of whether to run a full page Holocaust denial ad placed by conservative activist David Horowitz. In this case, the discussion was impassioned but civil, and the process helped re-define the newspaper's policy on ad acceptance. (The ad was rejected by the Board.)

Some memories of key DP moments are tied, naturally, to events in the world around us. I recall the night President George H. Bush announced the launch of Operation Desert Storm, the first Persian Gulf war, in January 1991 as an office of disquieted DP staff members crowded into the conference room to watch the televised coverage of the initial bombing of Iraq, and then grappled with how to tell the story on the next day's front page.

Even more memorable to me is 9/11. As the twin towers burned and then collapsed that morning, DP staff members began arriving at the office. Most were numb, and no one had much of an idea what to do, or even why they had come into the office -- they just gravitated there and felt the newspaper was where they should be. As the day went on, the ranks swelled, even though many people weren't thinking about putting out a newspaper, and Managing Editor Rod Kurtz '02 gathered the staff in the newsroom. I don't remember his exact words, but I remember that scene. This wasn't some hard-nosed, veteran newspaperman giving marching orders to the troops; it was a 21 year-old kid who was as scared and unsettled and upset at the events of the day as the rest of them. But he stood up in front of them and just began to talk. He told them he didn't have answers to the myriad questions everyone had, but he told them the DP's job was to share and explain and document as much as they could for their fellow Penn students who had the same questions and fears. He laid out a game plan for the paper's coverage the next day, and the room slowly filled with a sense of purpose, a mission to accomplish, a direction. He told them how proud he was of them and of the paper, and he thanked them for their dedication and for what he was sure would he a difficult night ahead. I stood in back, just inside the doorway to the newsroom, and I choked back tears as I walked back to my office at how impressive a group of students I was privileged to work with. I still well up just recalling that moment today.

Q. What will be the DP's biggest challenge in the next few years?
A. Two spring to mind. First is our quest for a long-term future home for the DP. I've been talking to real estate officials at Penn since 1998 about this, yet we're not much closer to a solution after nearly nine years. With each passing year, the DP is able to set aside more funds for whatever opportunity will eventually emerge, so hopefully the passage of time will end up working in our favor. But I really want us to find something -- whether it's a parcel of land to build on, a building to buy and renovate, or space in a new construction project that we can buy into -- that will be a great space for the DP for the next 25 or 50 or 75 years. With our desire to remain in close proximity to where most students live around the campus area, and with Penn owning so much of the area real estate, I still feel that working with Penn to obtain suitable space is our best hope. We'll have to wait and see how this plays out over the next few years, but it's never far from the front of my mind.

What looms as a bigger and longer-term challenge for the DP is the changing face of newspapers and media in the U.S. Every commercial newspaper and magazine is grappling with how to retain and build readership in the Internet era, and although college newspapers have largely been immune to the circulation declines of large city dailies, we don't exist in a bubble. We're fortunate that college students still read their campus newspaper in amazing numbers, because even with WiFi networks and laptop computers and iPods and cell phones and 24 hour news and countless blogs, the DP can still deliver content -- news, opinion, ads -- which isn't available anywhere else.

Some "experts" predict the demise of printed newspapers as we know them in the not-so-distant future. Some say newspapers need to make changes, but that they aren't going away. (Ted Turner declared at a newspaper conference in 1981, when he was ushering in the era of 24 hour cable news, that "newspapers as we know them today will be gone within the next 10 years"; I attended a conference more than a decade later at which he admitted he had been way, way wrong.)

I don't claim to be smart enough to predict the future of newspapers. What I do know is that there is always going to be a demand for local news and targeted advertising, and readers for such information. The challenges ahead for the DP are numerous: maintaining readership of the print edition as long as readers want information in that form, while building an improved web site to cater to readers who want their content online -- all while trying to find a successful business model for delivering advertising online should readers migrate from print to online. Although the DP's web sites currently attract fewer readers, and only a small percentage of the advertising dollars, that the print edition brings in, the discussions inside the DP about the organization's online strategy occupy a far larger portion of management time.

Q. Do you have any regrets?
A. Another tough question! A few, maybe, but surely not many. I mentioned above that I wish I had done a better job keeping in regular contact with more of the people I've so enjoyed working with. That's related to the larger issue that I work too hard and too long. My long hours have cut into time with family and friends that I can't get back. What's the old saying -- no one ever died regretting having not spent enough time at the office? But my work at the DP has always been a labor of love, and I've always had a tough time saying "no" to student requests or saying "stop now" to my own attempts to do just a little more each day. The great thing about this job is that there's always some other project waiting to be done, some challenge waiting to be conquered. But except for those times when I disappear with my wife for a week or two of blissful vacation, I've always had a hard time stopping myself from trying to do "just one more thing." I actually think the DP should be giving an award to my wife of nearly 21 years, Sahbra, for so graciously putting up with all the time I steal from her in pursuit of my work for the DP.

SIDEBAR:

Alumni Recall Jacobs' Influence
At the annual DP Banquet on January 13, Eric Jacobs '80 was honored and presented with a binder full of congratulatory letters written by DP alumni. Here are a few excerpts from those letters.

"You are the glue that holds a great institution together and ensures that its greatness passes from one generation to the next."

-- Lee Levine '76

"Thanks for being a major part of the best education I received."

-- Michael Weiner '84

"Any success I've had as a manager in the 'real' world I owe to my years at the DP, and the time I spent learning from you."

-- Charles Cohen '89

"I couldn't have survived my year as executive editor without you."

-- Charles Ornstein '96

"You were my original professional mentor. I learned my first management skills not from Wharton's Management 100 course, but from you."

-- Michael Vondriska '02