Attorneys Jon Fleischaker and Kim Greene will receive the 2024 Friend of Student Publications Award at the 73rd Student Publications Homecoming Breakfast on Nov. 16.
Greene and Fleischaker, who spent much of their careers as attorneys defending the rights of the public to have access to government meetings and records, are being honored for their tireless work helping generations of student journalists at WKU keep the public university and its records open for inspection and scrutiny.
The couple also are the benefactors who created the Fleischaker/Greene Fund for Excellence in First Amendment Studies in the WKU School of Media & Communication, which supports the Fleischaker/Greene Scholars in First Amendment Studies and the Fleischaker/Greene Award for Courageous International Reporting. The programs have helped hundreds of aspiring journalists and others learn in the classroom about the essential importance of free speech and a free press in protecting American democracy and honored journalists around the world for their work in dangerous conditions.
“Jon and Kim and solid gold people who always come to the aid of our student journalists,” said Chuck Clark, director of WKU Student Publications. “Just a few days ago, Jon worked with his law partners, Mike Abate and Rick Adams, to craft a letter defending the College Heights Herald’s efforts to thoroughly report a story on student attitudes about voting.
“And Kim and Jon also have provided financial support to help offset the impact of university budget cuts on our students.”
This is the second year for the Friend of Student Publications Award, created in 2023 to recognize people who are not alumni of WKU’s student-run media but who have gone above and beyond to help and be of service to our student journalists. The first Friend award went to Julie A. Harris Hinson, a WKU alumna and former member of the Board of Regents who created the Hinson Opportunity Fund for Student Publications, an endowed fund which helps students who need extra financial assistance to cover basic expenses or to participate in conferences and training.
The 73rd Student Publications Homecoming Breakfast on Saturday, Nov. 16, will begin at 8 a.m. with a hot buffet in the atrium of Jody Richards Hall, with the program beginning at 8:30. The breakfast will wrap up by 10 a.m. to allow alumni to enjoy tailgating on South Lawn before the Homecoming football game kicks off at 11 a.m.
Aside from Greene and Fleischaker, two College Heights Herald alumni who are being inducted into the WKU Hall of Distinguished Alumni will be honored. Al Cross, dean of political reporting in Kentucky and the founder of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, will speak at the breakfast. David C. Wilson, dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of California-Berkeley, also has been invited to speak.
The breakfast also will honor the 2024-25 centennial of Talisman, our life and culture magazine created as a yearbook in 1924, and the College Heights Herald, our multiplatform news organization launched as a campus newspaper on Jan, 29, 1925. Both the Herald and the Talisman are in the Associated Collegiate Press Hall of Fame, and both are among The Pacemaker 100, the most honored student-run media outlets in the century-long history of ACP’s Pacemaker Awards, the top honor in collegiate media. The Herald is No. 6 on the all-time Pacemaker list.
To make a reservation to attend the 73rd Student Publications Homecoming Breakfast, follow this link: https://wkustudentpubs.com/homecoming-2024