Why so many college Web sites are lame

Scoot Williams via Wikimedia Commons

Better whip those graphics into shape

Political Coverage Powered by You

Your gift today creates a more connected Minnesota. MPR News is your trusted resource for election coverage, reporting and breaking news. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.

In a recent Huffington Post piece, Florida Atlantic University newspaper adviser Michael Koretzky slams college newspaper Web sites, calling them "so damn boring" and the content mere "shovelware" poured into templates.

That's odd news to this former newspaper hack, who has read countless industry journal articles about how the kids are running reporters ragged in cyberspace.

Koretzky gives several reasons, but essentially it boils down to this:

Online media sources are so common, they carry no prestige. So college journalists save their best efforts for newspapers, which seem scarcer and cooler.

As he puts it:

Everyone has a Facebook page. But not everyone has a newspaper page.

Then again, maybe they're just the newest generation of the cranky, old-fashioned reporters -- old before their time.

In any case, see for yourself. Here's a list of links to some Minnesota college newspapers and their Web sites.

Bemidji State University, Northern Student

Concordia College,  The Concordian

Gustavus Adolphus College, Gustavian Weekly

Hamline University, Oracle

Macalester College, The Mac Weekly

Metropolitan State University, The Metropolitan

Minnesota State University, Mankato, The Reporter

Minnesota State University, Moorhead, The Advocate

St. Cloud State University, University Chronicle

St. John's University, The Record

Southwest State University, The Spur

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minnesota Daily

University of St. Thomas, TommieMedia

(Note: I couldn't get The University Register from the University of Minnesota, Morris, to load. Also, the St. Thomas paper no longer exists in the paper form known as the Aquin. It is now purely online. If anyone knows of other list changes that need to be made, please let me know.)