Christian student group PSU Seed, which published a magazine of faith-based stories last semester, is now going digital with a weekly blog open to anyone's submissions.
Psuseed.com, launched Nov. 3, is not aiming to be an alternative form of media at Penn State, creators said.
Most of its contributors are not journalism or English majors -- students and faculty from colleges across the country have submitted pieces to the site, said faculty adviser Joe Schafer, a professor in the statistics department.
"Our students wanted an outlet to creatively express themselves," Schafer said.
The idea for the publication came from Schafer's contacts at New York University, where the NYU Seed club puts out a magazine full of faith-based articles every semester. PSU Seed doesn't have the funding to keep publishing a magazine, but members are happy to go "completely multimedia" and update the blog two to three times a week, Schafer said.
Anyone can send in submissions, as long as the writing is "good-natured, respectful, reasonable and applies to our journalistic standards," Schafer said.
PSU Seed President Ruth Schafer (sophomore-English), Schafer's daughter, said psuseed.com aims to "bridge a lot of barriers," and will allow discussions that wouldn't necessarily happen otherwise.
She said the group won't censor any pieces within reason and would love to publish anything opinionated and well thought-out.
The articles originally published in last semester's magazine and new articles have been added to the site. One piece Ruth Schafer found especially interesting was Caitie Hutton's (freshman-architecture) submission on women and modest dress at Penn State -- a good example of a thoughtful piece not specifically related to religion, she said.
"Not all of our pieces have a faith-related slant to them," Joe Schafer said.
PSU Seed Secretary Greg Impink (senior-industrial engineering) said the blog is an open forum for anyone who wants to have enlightening discussions on faith at Penn State.
Most of the posts have been opinion pieces, he said, but the club is open to short stories and commentary, such as YouTube videos and links of interest.
"We're trying to evoke more productive conversation in a positive way, in a positive atmosphere for discussion, where nobody's going to be too aggressive and no one's going to condemn you," Impink said.
