The campus literary magazine, formerly known as “Fine Print,” has been renamed “VOX.”
Senior Kyler Koons, a professional writing major and editor-in-chief of the magazine, is responsible for the revamped name and the overall rebranding of the magazine.
A veteran staff member of Fine Print, Koons felt that the title was unoriginal, and that it was time for a change.
Koons was eager to make the magazine a more marketable, modern college publication.
After brainstorming and discussing the options with Jesse Waters, Director of Bowers Writers House and the magazine’s faculty advisor, the name “VOX” won the position as the magazine title. When asked about the meaning behind the name VOX, Koons responded by saying that “vox” means “voice” in Latin, and that was what he was looking to transform VOX into — the voice of the student body’s creative expressions.
“I wanted a name that would be all-encompassing and tell our readers everything we’re about. It needed to be something short, catchy, and marketable,” Koons said.
Koons’s aim for the magazine revamp involved more than student involvement. Koons wanted to change past policies about submissions and the magazine’s organization. In the past, only the head editors had the authority to decide which submissions were accepted. Koons knew that a lot of the student body had negative attitudes towards the magazine for this reason, and he looked to change all of that by revitalizing the editorial process alongside the name change and a revamped layout design.
Koons came up with the idea of editorial boards. Instead of the head editors choosing what was to be printed, the editorial boards will collaborate on those decisions for their section. The hope of this new editorial process is that it will make the magazine more democratic.
Koons and the rest of the staff are excited about the recent improvements made to the magazine and are hoping for a positive reception from the student body. So far, they have received a lot of positive feedback from English majors who are aware of the new edition and a great deal of encouragement from faculty. All these changes have been made in an effort to better the magazine’s reputation, to become a free and united form of creative expression for Blue Jays. The staff wants the students to make it their magazine.
“We’re a publication, but we’re also a student club. We won’t be holding weekly meetings. Instead, we want to spend that time doing different types of social events and trips in an effort to build community,” Koons said.
VOX is looking for new staff members to help along their endeavor of student involvement and community-based creative interaction. Students from any major are welcome to join. The staff is taking submissions of work from now until February, with the magazine scheduled for print in late March. Submissions can include diverse writing and art such as fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, scripts and photography. For more information about submissions or getting involved, please email VOX@ETOWN.EDU.
