During a time of unrest on college campuses across the country the Emerald became independent from the university on July 1, 1971. We celebrated our 50 year anniversary of independence during the 2021-22 school year. Check out our 50 anniversary book here.

We kicked off our celebration with an alumni happy hour on Friday of homecoming weekend featuring Headliner beer, a small batch craft beer brewed just for the Emerald by Falling Sky Brewery. Festivities continued at the Duck’s homecoming game with a tailgate party.

Our publisher Bill Kunerth set a fundraising goal of $50,000 for 50 years, and in the fall several generous alumni donated $1,000 each to get us started towards our goal. In the spring alumni donated items for an online auction to benefit Emerald Media Group’s mission of independent student journalism. After the auction we were very close to our $50,000 goal and finished with a matching donation of $5,000 from 1975-76 Emerald EIC Jim Gregory and his wife Angela Carmen.

Thank you to our 133 generous donors for contributing to the Emerald’s first major fundraising effort, our “$50,000 for 50 Years” fundraising campaign. We raised a total of $51,115 for student media.

Champions of Independence:

Kathy Bremner
Carl Bryant
Lois Davis
Michael Fancher
Patty Farrell
Ryan Frank
Jim Gregory
Tyree Harris
Drexel (Drex) Heikes
Debbie Howlett
Bill Kunerth
Brad Lemley
Melody Leslie
Alan Maltun
Michele Matassa Flores
Frank Pensiero
Ken Sands
Phil Semas
Tom Wolfe

Defenders of Democracy:

Laura Cadiz
Dawn Garcia
Mike Hines
Sarah Kelber
Brad Schmidt

Emerald Advocates:

Molly Bedford
David Bushnell
Jenn Casey
Kim Chapman
John (Jack) Clifford
Dr. Steven Dimeo
Sorin Dragoiu
Ron Eachus
Judy Herrero
Peter Hockaday
Ryan Knutson
Joshua Marquis
Neal Rosen
Nora Simon
Steven Spatz
Sarah Woods

Student Media Supporters:

Jennifer Archer
Rick Bella
John Buchner
Charlie Butler
Jael Calloway
Eder Campuzano
Kathy Carbone
Alexandra Ciaramella
Paul Cormier
Alisha Dodds
Monte Enbysk
Harry Esteve
Leslie Fial
Jonathan Hawthorne
Judy Hucka
Mary Hucka
Kenny Jacoby
Kyle Jansson
Kaitlin Kenny
Jasmine Lewin
Michelle Mortenson
Jerril Nilson
Jared Paben
Dennis Pfaff
Keaton Roberts
Michelle Rondestvedt
Joyce Routson
Kristina Rudinskas
Samuel Rudkin
John Russial
Benjamin Schorzman
Tara Sloan
Eva Sylwester
Jennifer Winters Francois