Student-Distributed Paper Making the Rounds at College Campuses and Occupy Gatherings

A youth-published newspaper is making the rounds on college campuses and activism events around the state, spearheaded by a group of students looking to make their voices heard.

"Yo!" is a newspaper written and managed by high school and colleges students throughout New Jersey. The paper's inagural edition was released in October, with 5,000 copies printed and in the process of being distributed at colleges, high schools, rallies and protests.

According to the paper's organizers, copies are being distributed at Rutgers University, Princeton University, Montclair University, Kean College and the College of New Jersey, as well as at locations in Newark, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Spotswood, Cape May County, Hoboken and Franklin Park.

The paper was produced and written by about a dozen students on behalf of an organization called NJ Youth United Against War and Imperialism, according to organizers.

The paper's first edition covered such topics as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising costs of education, the Sept. 22 shooting of Barry Deloatch in New Brunswick, armed service recruitment in public schools, and immigration raids and deportation.

Robert Colby-Witanek, a student at Montgomery High School, and one of the paper's lead founders, said the paper is currently envisioned as a periodic publication, with issues published between two to four times a year.

Reviews of the paper have been mixed, but Colby-Witanek said that that was for the best.

"I think it's a good thing that people are discussing the paper, that it is getting attention at places like Montclair (University)," he said.

Through online networking through Facebook and the group's website, requests for copies of the paper have been received from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Idaho, Colby-Witanek said.

"I got involved in the paper because there were serious issues concerning the ongoing war, American imperialism, corporate greed, etc, and I felt like people weren't talking about it," said Aleksandra Taranov, a Princeton University freshman and distributor of the paper.

Taranov has been tasked with distributing the paper in the Princeton area, and said she has been handing it out on campus and at Occupy general assemblies.

In New Brunswick and Highland Park, Lily Naha, a Rutgers University student, has been handing out copies.

"I think that it's good that most of the writing was done by high school students rather than college students because there's less encouragement to articulate your own thoughts in the K-12 system," Naha said. "I know that when I was in high school, none of us were really making independent media."

Free copies of "Yo!" are available to the public, and can be obtained by sending the recipient's mailing information to NJYU@NJYouthUnited.org.

The paper can also be viewed online in full at http://NJYouthUnited.org/YO.htm.

For more information on NJ Youth United Against War and Imperialism and the "Yo!" newspaper, visit http://NJYouthUnited.org.