Purdue exponent

Purdue exponent
description	Student newspaper
language	English
Headquarters	West Lafayette
First edition	1889
Frequency of publication	Monday and Thursday
Sold edition	10,000 (during the lecture period), 6,000 (summer) copies
Editor-in-chief	Alisa Reynya
editor	Purdue Student Publishing Foundation
Web link	www.purdueexponent.org

The Purdue Exponent is one of the very few student newspapers in the US that operates independently from the college. It is based at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana , and has seven full-time employees and approximately 80 student staff.

While student newspapers usually belong to the university itself or are linked to a journalism institute, the Exponent is independent and has been located in its own building since 1989, as the first American student newspaper ever. It is also one of two US newspapers of this type that have their own printing press.

Independence was initiated in 1968 when the university removed the editor-in-chief, William R. Smoot , after the newspaper heavily criticized the university's president, Frederick L. Hovde (1908–1983). A commission of inquiry concluded that the dismissal was justified but that it violated procedural rules. Then Smoot was allowed to stay in the editorial office. However, the commission also recommended that the newspaper be converted into an independent non-profit organization.

Past employees include Ken Armstrong ( 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner), former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz , filmmaker Bob Peterson , cartoonist Mark O'Hare, and the New York Times office manager and Pulitzer Prize winner Ginger Thompson .