Dear readers,
There’s a difficult truth of uncertainty surrounding the future of journalism, but an easy truth remains: student journalism isn’t going anywhere.
As I write this, there are countless students across the globe who have fallen in love with the pursuit of seeking truth and championing democracy and are determined to keep this industry alive.
Those student journalists are more important now than ever.
We are more than young hopefuls waiting on a stepping stone. We are not a facsimile of a professional organization; we are a professional organization. Student journalists invest time, energy and money to be on campus as students and are constantly surrounded by the people we deeply care about and have a duty to provide accurate, fair and ethical reporting to.
The Collegian’s reporters, photographers, editors and designers are passionate truth-seekers, and we’re grateful to have the opportunity to promote the free, independent exchange of information in our community.
But it wouldn’t be possible without our audience members.
Right now, journalists around the world — no matter what stage of their career they are in — are dealing with difficult budget conversations, and The Collegian is no different.
Since our founding nearly 135 years ago, The Collegian has been a testament to the power of independent student journalism. We are the oldest continually published college paper in Colorado and one of the oldest in the entire Western United States. After joining nonprofit media organization Rocky Mountain Student Media Corporation in 2008, The Collegian became one of fewer than 100 tax-exempt, financially and editorially independent student publications in the country.
Just under 60% of our funding comes from a contractual agreement made with the Associated Students of Colorado State University — the rest comes from investment from our community.
Every bit of that investment goes right back into the student journalism we pride ourselves on. We have roughly 100 members of our staff working to put out stories daily at Collegian.com and weekly in print.
With this staff of talented student journalists, we’ve been able to cover crucially important events on Colorado State University’s campus quickly and accurately. In October alone, we were the first news outlet to break several stories, including when United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement was spotted on CSU’s campus, when a CSU student was arrested while protesting and when an officer-involved shooting led to a student’s emergency transportation to a local hospital.
These articles are more than a section in a portfolio. These events have an impact on our everyday lives and are stories that deserve to be told with truthfulness, fairness and accountability.
For students who might feel like Colorado State University isn’t listening to them, we are.
We understand our role as watchdogs for the community, and we don’t take that responsibility lightly. For those of you who have directly shared your story with me, I want to thank you for entrusting me to tell it and for taking a chance with student journalism.
I want to highlight The Cornell Daily Sun as one of the most prominent cases in recent history of why student journalism matters. Senior Editor Cereese Qusba worked tirelessly to investigate the alleged gang rape of a Cornell University student in October 2024. After 23 months of dedicated, careful attention, Qusba published the culmination of her reporting in a detailed account of the lawsuit and Jane Doe’s allegations of the university’s mishandling of the Title IX report. Seven days later, the Daily Sun’s editorial board published “Cornell Won’t, We Will,” an editorial that named the seven men in Jane Doe’s lawsuit in order to provide a sense of transparency to the student body the university had not.
Student publications around the country, including The Collegian, work to call out the institutions that are falling behind, and we wish to give the community a place to speak.
Earlier this week, News Editor Claire VanDeventer spoke to members of the CSU community and wrote an article examining the reactions and calls for transparency following CSU President Amy Parsons’ resignation and her settlement. After the Oct. 12 officer-involved shooting, I had the opportunity to uplift the voices of several CSU students who were frustrated with CSU’s poor communication during the on-campus shooting.
In recent years, our staff has covered sensitive, important stories such as alleged use of date-rape drugs by a CSU fraternity and when ASCSU officials admitted accepting funds from a conservative organization backed by Turning Point USA. Behind every article is a student who put their schedule aside to make sure our audience knows what’s happening.
Our stands can be found in practically every building on campus, and The Collegian has never had a paywall to access our content. We believe journalism should always be accessible to each and every member of our community. This is why your support matters.
Every dollar donated to The Collegian goes back to the students trying their hardest every day to navigate a complicated, rapidly changing industry with passion and dedication. Your donation is a direct investment in keeping student journalism alive at Colorado State University.
Donations provide support for a platform dedicated to serving students by students. As noted in previous editorials, there is no place for generative artificial intelligence in our newsroom. Every article, every graphic, every photo and every page is created by students. We have a diligent team of copy editors that spends hours fact-checking and style-correcting each article after reporters and editors have curated it.
Being a student journalist is a labor of pure love, and there’s no other job I — and many of my peers — would rather have.
The work that we put out matters, and I am calling on you for support. Whether that is reposting one of our Instagram posts, purchasing our merch or making a large donation, whatever you can give, I thank you for it.
I do this job for you, reader. I do it for my staff, and I do it to uphold the high standards and legacy this paper has held for over a century.
If you’re able, please consider donating to The Collegian today. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your readership and support.
Sophie Webb, Editor in Chief of The Collegian’s 136th Editorial Board
Reach Sophie Webb at letters@collegian.com or on social media @sophgwebb.
