Last updated: 08/09/02

Joining the SPJ | Membership form


Dues
Student membership is $40 per year. $35 of this amount goes to the national organization; $5 goes to the J-school chapter to run its events and provide its services. You can pay by either credit card or check.

To join, print and fill out a membership form . Drop off the form in the envelope on Prof. Sreenivasan's door (Room 707; spj@jrn.columbia.edu).

The SPJ is the world's largest journalists group, with more than 14,000 members across the country. The Columbia chapter--one of 200 student chapters--won the Society's "Outstanding Campus Chapter of the Year" in 1997.

Our chapter provides the only opportunity for official extracurricular activites at the school. The chapter's executive board also serves as the de facto student government. We organize events virtually every week of the academic year. These include: a speaker series, career panels and workshops, annual meeting with the Pulitzer jurors; weekly happy hours, a poetry slam & spelling bee, Sunday movie nights, the holiday party & faculty roast; the monthly "Coffee Beans with the Dean," the year-end cruise. We also publish the student yearbook.

We invite you to join the SPJ so that you can help make this as exciting a year as possible.Membership is open to all students of the J-school and other Columbia students interested in journalism.

Benefits

1. Networking & Professional Development

  • SPJ is the best way to meet as many people in our class as possible, as well as professionals, many of whom were once student members (including a certain member of the class of '69 named Tom Goldstein). The SPJ network includes journalism leaders such as Jane Pauley, Dan Rather, Ben Bradlee, David Broder, and Helen Thomas. SPJ membership is often the beginning of long-standing friendships and contacts vital to the job search.

  • Professional development meetings and workshops at the local and national level help you prepare for your career. These are open to SPJ members only.

  • SPJ's Mark of Excellence Awards recognize outstanding students at both the regional and national level.

2. Exclusive Access to Events & Resources

  • · Throughout the semester, the SPJ organizes special events and guest lectures open only to its members. Recent exclusives included... Brown bag dinners with:
    Joseph Lelyveld J'60, executive editor of The New York Times.
    Chip Scanlan J'74, editor, "Best Newspaper Writing" book series.
    E.R. Shipp J'78, J-school professor & ombudsman of The Washington Post.
    Reggie Stuart J'71, recruiting editor of Knight-Ridder.
    Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes.
    Fareed Zakaria, managing editor, Foreign Affairs.
  • Tickets to Late Show with David Letterman, Chris Rock Show, The Daily Show
  • Access to SPJ online resume building workshops--create your Web resume!
  • SPJ members also get a free subscription to Quill Magazine, which has been covering journalism issues for more than 80 years.
  • Watch out for more such exclusives throughout the year!

3. Discounts & Freebies

  • Free admission or significant discounts for SPJ events at the school
  • Discounts on J-school T-shirts and other goodies
  • Raffles (with different prizes) throughout the academic year
  • Free tickets for The Daily Show with John Stewar, The Late Show with David Letterman and other shows in NYC
  • Special discounts listed at: https://spj.org/join_discount.asp
  • 75% off subscriptions to Jobs for Journalists, a weekly newsletter
    listing hundreds of job openings (often before they appear in classifieds)

4. Enhancement of Your J-School Experience

  • The SPJ membership, led by its executive board, runs all student and extracurricular activities at the school and plans the school's social calendar. Parties, guest lectures, and other social events have their roots here.
  • SPJ is the forum for student ideas and decision making. Want a microwave in the student lounge? Have suggestions on how to change the school's curriculum? Want to start a study group on a particular topic? Have a design idea for a J-school baseball hat? The SPJ is the only place at the J-school where you can bring in your ideas.

5. Advice & Information

  • The SPJ provides legal advice and support, and offers publications on ethical standards and Freedom of Information issues.

  • As an SPJ member you can draw upon a large network of colleagues for information and assistance.


Dues
Student membership is $40 per year. $35 of this amount goes to the national organization; $5 goes to the J-school chapter to run its events and provide its services. You can pay by either credit card or check.


To join, fill out a membership form, available in the envelope in the student lounge. Drop off the form in the envelope on Sree's door (Room 207 mezzanine; spj@jrn.columbia.edu).