BEND, OR -- The Central Oregon Community College student-run newspaper put out its last edition in early June; or so everyone thought. President Shirley Metcalf shut down The Broadside based on the findings of a task force, which showed student readership and involvement were down, making the program no longer cost effective.

She's now asked Director of Student and Campus Life Andrew Davis to lead a workgroup to take another look. He tells KBND News, "We'd like to reconsider this decision; take a closer look - or maybe a second look, if you will, to see if there are other options, maybe other methods that we could institute in order to help The Broadside restart and be functional moving forward." He believes the paper teaches students skills they'll need whether they go into journalism or not, "Hard and soft skills, showing up on time, listening to the direction of the supervisor, also being able to be free thinking, and figure out how to problem solve on their own."

Davis says the group will ask questions to get the big picture, "Is there a way to more closely align it with instructional courses that would be training students to work at The Broadside?" And, "Is there a way to structure this that would make it appeal to students? What's the feasibility of that? How could we implement it and then, how could we evaluate it?"

The task force will begin meeting next week, and Davis hopes they'll have options for COCC's Board of Directors to consider by the middle of winter term.