What Is The Weather Vane?

Updated

The Weather Vane (theweathervane.org) is the independent student newspaper of Eastern Mennonite University, published weekly by EMU undergraduates. It is the place to look for campus-centered reporting and commentary written by students: news and features, opinion, reviews, and sports. If you are trying to figure out whether a story about EMU campus life, student government, athletics, or student opinion would appear here, this is the publication to check.

Who runs it

The paper describes itself as published weekly by undergraduate students of Eastern Mennonite University and as an independent student newspaper. Its stated mission is to offer an accurate and representative account of campus life. That combination matters: the staff are students, and the editorial identity is independent rather than an official university communications outlet.

What it covers

The site organizes content into recognizable student-paper sections, visible in its current story lineup:

Section Example stories from the site
News & Feature "Thirty One Acres Sold to VMRC in New Partnership," "Student Petition Drives Historic Meal Plan Changes," "EMU ACE Festival Presents A Year of Student Work," "SEEDS Revamps EMU's Campus Chicken Coop"
Campus Life "Ethiopian Students Welcome 2019," "EMU Hosts Passover Seder," "Did you know April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month?"
Opinion "EMU's Housing Should Feel Like Home," "It's the End of History," "Editorial: A Season of Change," "Towards a Collective Pedagogy," "The Unknown Demise of 18F"
Review "Seasonal Sips Showdown Scrutiny," "The Best Cafe by a Latte," "FIN 289: A Necessity for ALL"
Sports "Trickle Down Effects of Eligibility Update," "Men's Volleyball Defies Expectations And Makes It to the ODAC Championship Finals," "Women's Disc Golf Places Sixth in Nationals," "First Two Rounds of March Madness Bring Chaos"

The range is broad but the frame is consistent: stories are tied to EMU — its campus, its students, its teams, its courses, and its surrounding community.

Who it is for

The primary audience is the EMU campus community: students, faculty, staff, and alumni who want student-written coverage of institutional decisions, campus events, athletics, and student perspectives. Outside readers can also use it as a window into what EMU students are debating and reporting on in a given semester.

What to expect as a reader

  • Student authorship. Byline names on the site are student writers and editors.
  • Weekly cadence. The paper is published weekly, so coverage clusters around the academic term rather than breaking news in real time.
  • Mixed formats. Straight news sits alongside first-person opinion, editorial positions, and reviews, so read the section label before treating a piece as reported news.
  • Campus-first scope. National or world topics appear mainly when students connect them to campus or to their own experience.

Practical notes

If you want to cite or follow a specific story, use the article's own byline and date rather than the homepage, since the front page rotates with each issue. Dates visible on current stories include Sep 26, 2026 and Apr 25, 2026, which reflects the weekly, term-based publishing rhythm. The site does not present itself as a subscription or paid product in the material available, but nothing here should be read as a statement about access terms beyond what the publication itself states.