Residents’ access to affordable housing, adequate healthcare, and ESL services were among the topics raised by Baruch student journalists during a multisession, daylong learning tour of New York City’s Chinatown. The neighborhood was the focus of the Second Annual Roz Bernstein Reporting Day, organized by Gisele Regatao and Emily Johnson, faculty members in the Department of Journalism and the Writing Professions. Seventy students from four classes participated.
At the Chinese-American Planning Council, for example, students heard from Allegra Cole, the former Chinatown reporter for DNAinfo, who gave them tips on neighborhood beat reporting. Students also visited the Museum of Chinese in America and took part in an architecture walking tour.
Excursion namesake Roslyn Bernstein, PhD, professor emerita of journalism, joined the group. “There is no better way to teach journalism than to explore the local,” says Dr. Bernstein. “Journalists need to dig into a neighborhood and find out what makes it tick—unravel its past, dissect its present, to illuminate its future. I can’t wait to read the students’ stories and listen to their podcasts.”
Says co-organizer Ms. Regatao, “Of course the most passionate and engaged person on the tour was Roz herself. She continues to inspire all of us.” Bernstein retired from Baruch in 2016 after more than 40 years of distinguished teaching, service, and mentoring.