MDDC honors Kelly Powers of the News Journal with the Courage in Journalism award for 2023 for her dogged persistence in covering unrest at Delaware State University.
A free press cannot be swept aside or silenced. This award honors acts of courage in journalism and strength in adversity while uncovering truth. The Courage in Journalism Award was established in memory of those killed at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis in 2018 and in honor of those who survived. Nominations included examples of the work as well as a summary letter describing the situation — the adversity faced and the actions taken by a journalist or news company to push forward — and the effect the work had.
Kelly Powers began hearing rumblings of a student protest in the makings at Delaware State University no sooner than she began a new role as education and equity reporter for Delaware Online/The News Journal in mid-January 2023. Powers confirmed that it was more than a rumor, and she zipped to the Dover campus in the middle of a weekday to cover developments that rocked the campus.
Hundreds of Delaware State students left classes, flooded a university street, and protested for better campus security and handling of sexual assault cases. The administration responded by setting a public town hall meeting, yet the university’s chief public information officer escorted Powers out of the meeting. “This is a family meeting,” Carlos Holmes, director of news services, said.
It was the second time in recent months that DSU had removed media from covering issues at the public institution. Powers did not allow the reporting to go dark. Undaunted, she reported on that development by being transparent and by tapping into the network of student sources she’d been building to provide insight on what happened at the meeting that went on until nearly 3 a.m.
That story prompted the university’s president to issue a statement outlining initial steps being taken to address the complaints. Powers stayed on the developments, providing coverage about the protesters’ making their case in Dover during a state budget hearing for the public HBCU.
The Safe Space Coalition, central to President Tony Allen’s response to campus unrest, formed in late January to assess existing protocol on safety, sexual violence, response services and more. More than 100 students, parents, community members and employees formed the coalition across nine committees. Then, students felt muzzled. Delaware State made any student who wished to join the Safe Space Coalition sign a confidentiality agreement. Powers reported about these agreements, which prompted free speech organizations to write to DSU. Both the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and ACLU-DE condemned the documents, citing the condition “plainly violates” student rights.
Delaware State rolled back. Simply put: On the confidentiality agreements, we went too far,” penned Allen to his university community in March. Allen took responsibility for the measure, echoing that Delaware State’s initial reasoning concerned the protection of sensitive information.
Powers kept the heat up. In February, she penned a candid narrative of some of the students’ experiences of being violated and subsequently feeling shut out. By early that April, the same reporter would learn Police Chief Bobby Cummings was set to step down from his post. From a “Safe Space Project” to campus lighting and camera upgrades, university response continued. Top officials at Delaware State also requested to meet with Powers and Delaware Online/The News Journal in April to explain the school’s evolving approach to transparency and free speech, and to extend an olive branch in keeping the lines of communication open between the public institution and the media organization.
There is no doubt that these developments are the result of Powers’ courage in pushing back against being shut out, in holding fast to accountability reporting and in giving a face and a voice to the individuals who just want a safe space to get an education.
