Jim Romenesko, the brass-knuckled blogger? That's what Slate's Bryan Curtis is claiming in Jimmy's treatment of college newspapers, where – thanks to this era of digital-giz-techno-net everything – students' mistakes are on full display for all to ridicule.

Having been both a columnist and editorial editor at our student newspaper, we know the pitfalls of work being published online. Like, it can even get syndicated.

But isn't university supposed to be a place where overambitious comm students can fuck up? Certainly, college newspapers must be the place to egregiously support underage drinking, racially offensive frat theme parties and a call for the chancellor to resign. Because if they're not, we're going to have to own up to the fact that student newspapers are just a grand excuse to print comics and crossword puzzles to complete during lectures.

The fear is that with the attention of big media, ambitious collegians may be tempted to skip ahead. They will put aside the date-rape and cafeteria stories and move too quickly into the dreariness of the "adult" world: COLA adjustments, forged National Guard documents, and so forth. The cherished intimacy of college journalism will give way to the partisan stew of the rest of it.

Though we like to think we can rest on the laurels of student apathy to keep that world far, far away from campus.

Confessions of a College Journalist [Slate]