Bob Radziewicz, faculty advisor for The Miami Hurricane

The incident I think best shows Greg's journalistic integrity and fortitude occurred in late March. The Hurricane ran a straightforward story announcing that at the request of a Muslim student group on campus, the university would play the traditional Islamic call to prayer from the library bell tower. As soon as the story came out, the reader "responses" began flying online. As you can imagine, many were bigoted, obscene and intolerant. Later that day, the Muslim group contacted Greg demanding that he take down the responses immediately. Greg held his ground. He explained politely -- but firmly -- that the problem of online reader responses was plaguing the entire news industry, with no easy solution in sight. In the next issue he wrote a great editor's column, in my opinion, that laid out the paper's position on all this.

Greg believes strongly in journalistic principles and won't allow anyone to bully him into changing those just because an article offends some people. At one point a former student asked why the paper was leaving offensive posts up. As part of his explanation, Greg noted that he was seen anti-Semite remarks on some stories from time to time. Greg is an observant Jew; he was personally appalled by the remarks, but he chose to leave them up for the same reasons he left the call to prayer comments alone. In a university setting, the school newspaper should be the vehicle to promote open debate and free expression. I am extremely proud at how Greg handled himself.

Sam Terilli, professor at the University of Miami

Greg has shown his ability and willingness to stretch beyond the confines of traditional journalism to learn and master the new world of digital storytelling. As we chart the uncertain path to the future, students such as Greg will take us there because they are unafraid to learn and experiment and because they will bring to this new world the values of the traditional journalist. 

Karyn Meshbane, news editor for The Miami Hurricane

Greg is a journalism nerd. He walks around the newsroom quoting “All the President’s Men,” and he pretty much turned his office in the newsroom into his dorm room.

I remember last semester on Halloween, I left the office at around 9 p.m. to go to a costume party. Greg found out at 10 p.m. that three fraternity brothers were arrested for robbery off-campus, and he wrote a story, spoke with multiple sources and found art for the story within 45 minutes to not only post a story online, but also have a story for print before we sent the paper off to the Miami Herald to be printed at 11 p.m.

Chris Delboni, professor of journalism and new media at the University of Miami’s School of Communication

He was taking my Online Journalism this semester, and before classes started in January we agreed the final project was the redesign of the new site for the Miami Hurricane. More than halfway through the semester, though, we ran into some problems with the designer. The new Web site would not be completed by semester’s end, so we would have to switch gears and find an alternative project. He never said one negative word about the designer and came up with an even better alternative for the class and our final project. Meanwhile, Greg also kept working with his staff at the Hurricane to have the new site running as well as soon as possible. Throughout the semester, all I saw was professionalism, positive attitude and dedication.  Sometimes, we can’t find these qualities in people in the real world, making real money.  To have that in a student tells a lot about this person. 

Greg blogs about online journalism in The Linchpen.

Long before luxury yachts and colossal cruise ships cut through Biscayne Bay and skyscrapers dominated the shoreline, small wooden craft sailed the same shallow waters.

Source | The Miami Hurricane
Through a program sponsored by the University, full-time faculty members are now able to purchase homes in a community five miles south of the Coral Gables campus. Most professors, however, will not be able to afford the homes.

Source | The Miami Hurricane
Jim Morris stays cool in his fourth decade as a collegiate baseball head coach.

Source | The Miami Hurricane
More than 110 readers have commented on an online news story that also ran in print Thursday about the Muslim call to prayer being played from the Richter clock tower this month.