In Greek mythology, Circe killed Hermes. On the Syracuse University campus, circulation killed Hermes.

After three years of covering SU’s greek community, Hermes Newspaper has ceased publication due to poor readership and dwindling advertising.

‘Although many greeks voiced a need for a new media, others did not and grew to resent a publication covering their activities,’ Hermes founders Justin Silverman and Emily Kulkus wrote in an email sent to the paper’s online subscribers. ‘Few chapters used Hermes in the way the company’s founders envisioned and as a result, advertising and the resources necessary to continue this publication became scarce.’

Kulkus and Silverman founded the paper as juniors at SU. Both graduated in spring of 2002 with majors in newspaper and political science.

Chris Jaikaran, a senior magazine and religion major, followed Hermes through its existence and said that Kulkus and Silverman faced problems in covering greek life.

The Interfraternity Council wouldn’t talk to the paper in the first years of Hermes’ existence.

Tom Toole, a senior finance and accounting major and president of IFC, acknowledged that an editorial published last spring that criticized greek leadership caused tension between the newspaper and IFC.

‘[The writer] tried to tell us how to do our jobs,’ Toole said. ‘He said we weren’t moving in the right direction.’

Jaikaran said another factor in Hermes editorial inadequacy was that the founders didn’t participate in greek life in college.

‘It’s like if you were going to create a niche magazine for snowboarders where you yourself weren’t a snowboarder,’ he said.

Towards the end of Hermes’ existence, both founders became frustrated with their audience. Kulkus and Silverman vented their concerns in editorials that ran in the paper’s last issue on Oct. 21.

‘For every one with-it, intelligent, organized and driven greek that I’ve met while doing Hermes, I’ve met two that aren’t worth my time,’ Kulkus said in the final editorial. ‘And that’s disappointing because I’ve dedicated years to seeing this community better itself.’

While Hermes earned high marks from professionals, its discontinuation didn’t come as a surprise to some readers. Marisa Morrison, a junior public relations major and public relations director for the Panhellenic Association at SU, said that a stack of Hermes was delivered to her sorority house each time it published.

‘In the beginning, it would go pretty quickly,’ Morrison said. ‘Now, a lot of people just don’t read it.’

This year, Hermes expanded its circulation to Cornell University’s campus. While stories from the campus included topics such as fall recruitment and closing chapters, some students questioned the need for a greek publication on campus.

‘Personally, I don’t think there’s an absolute necessity for it,’ said Jamie Ramenofsky, a junior business major at Cornell and member of Kappa Alpha Theta. ‘Everyone’s pretty knowledgeable about greek life around here.’

Ramenofsky and several of her greek friends all reported that they hadn’t seen the publication on the Cornell campus.

Kulkus also alludes to problems the publication might have had in maintaining a budget.

‘That’s a difficult thing to do when you need advertising dollars from businesses wanting to use your pages but you need worthwhile stories to sell your newspaper,’ she wrote in her editorial. ‘Sometimes the two don’t always mesh, many times making it difficult for a newspaper to succeed in any community long term.’

Some greeks are sad to see the resource leave the campus’ publication racks.

‘IFC was able to use Hermes for PR and advertising,’ said Toole. ‘It’s one less outlet for us to use.’

Published on November 5, 2003 at 12:00 pm