We depend on others to document history and keep it preserved, perhaps without really realizing it. That is what journalism is: something inexplicably intertwined with history. Journalism is keeping people informed. It is a responsibility shouldered by many who are often overlooked or underappreciated. However, when we look to the past, we see those who documented it for the sake of not just themselves but for all of us — at Colorado State University and beyond.
As a university newspaper, The Collegian has been documenting history — global, national and local — for 133 years. We have documented life-altering events and stayed through the aftermath of them for over a century. When the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, Collegian editors and reporters worked to keep CSU’s campus and the surrounding community informed and share the stories and experiences of those impacted.
Rebecca Boyle, former editor in chief of The Collegian and current science reporter whose work has been featured in The New York Times and The Atlantic, wrote about a student whose sister was living in New York: Heather Stewart.
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“Police cars, ambulances and sirens abounded as Stewart watched the remaining tower become engulfed in smoke and flames,” the story reads.
Current professor of communication at Stevenson University, Jeffrey Browne, advised and directed student media, including The Collegian, from 1999 to 2009. Browne recalled the paper’s coverage of 9/11 and how the staff worked on it.
“We had to take some time to just kind of decompress about, you know, how we were feeling, what was going on before we actually started going out on the campus and asking students, you know, what sort of connections they might have had to New York or how they were feeling themselves, and how they take care of themselves during all of that,” Browne said.
“I remember stepping outside for fresh air and waiting in the sculpture garden for her to call me back, not knowing if she was OK. I was so thankful to hear her voice and get her account.” –Nik Olsen, CSU public information officer and crisis communications director
Another major event covered by The Collegian was the shooting at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Nik Olsen, who is currently CSU’s public information officer and crisis communications director, reported on it.
Olsen started at The Collegian in 1997. Following the Spring Creek flood, the student media office moved into what is now the University Center for the Arts and later moved back into the Lory Student Center. Following the move back to the LSC, Olsen said his most important story came from covering the shooting at Columbine.
“I interviewed my sister’s best friend, who was in the school at the time,” Olsen said. “I remember stepping outside for fresh air and waiting in the sculpture garden for her to call me back, not knowing if she was OK. I was so thankful to hear her voice and get her account.”
His highest profile story, however, was based on the 1999 Rocky Mountain Showdown in Denver. Olsen was taking photos of the game when Denver police released tear gas into the crowd. His friend was talking to police and was arrested, Olsen said, and when he took photos of that interaction, he was also placed under arrest.
“After a night in downtown Denver jail, I spoke to the judge on an early Sunday morning,” Olsen said. “I told him what happened, and he released me with time served for failure to obey a lawful order misdemeanor. … I ended up writing a column on this journalist adventure, and that garnered me a second-place national award.”
Allison Sylte, CSU’s senior PR specialist and writer, was editor in chief of The Collegian in 2012 and recalled one of the biggest events: a visit from the president of the United States.
“President (Barack) Obama came to campus, and that was pretty exciting,” Sylte said.
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Obama spoke on the Monfort Quad, according to Collegian coverage of the event.
A campus issue at that time was also the initial planning phases for the eventual reality of Canvas Stadium.
“It was really just conceptualizing what it would look like,” Sylte said.
Reach Aubree Miller at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @aubreem07.
