DICKINSON (AP) - Dickinson State University has a student newspaper again. This time, it's online.

Senior Sudeep Simkhada led the effort to revive the newspaper, which officials said had stalled because of a lack of student involvement and restrictions that tied it to a journalism minor.

Dickinson State had to re-establish the student publishing board to oversee independent school publications by the students. The members then had to rewrite their constitution.

Now, after about 18 months, Dickinson State has a fully staffed online student newspaper, again called the "Western Concept."

"The paper has a history of cycling in and out of activity," said George McClellan, a faculty member of the student publishing board and adviser to the newspaper staff.

"There were some structural problems, but the nature of the problem was the paper used to be in large part tied to the journalism minor, in ways that were highly restrictive," he said.

With looser ties to the journalism minor, the newspaper could attract more students, McClellan said.

"It never fell apart completely," said Rich Brauhn, Dickinson State's vice president for academic affairs. "Western Concept continued until there were not enough students to run the paper and meet deadlines."

The online form is an advantage, McClellan said.

"The board a year ago said they were not interested in print at all," he said. "They didn't see print newspapers as a way to go. It's a generational thing; many of our students live online."

Brauhn said the online edition also allows alumni easier access.

"It's kind of neat," Brauhn said. "We think the alumni will probably get some good use out of this. The "Alumni News" goes quarterly. (Western Concept) online will be twice a month once it gets going here."

The student staff can update the online edition daily, he said.

Costs are minimal: a one-time design fee for formatting the Web site, officials said. The editor and the business manager of the paper are paid positions, with the funds coming from student activity board. A business manager is not yet on staff.

The student publishing board chose Simkhada as the editor. Since he is a senior, the board also chose a successor, Casey Neumiller, to work with him during the current semester.

"He taught me a lot about just managing people and how to encourage the staff," Neumiller said.

Simkhada had experience in writing for a student newspaper at Concord University in West Virginia.

"It was a learning process for both of us," Simkhada said. "It was like guiding him through the administrative channels."

McClellan also would like to find a new adviser. He believes it would be a conflict of interest for him to continue in that job, since he also serves on the student publishing board.