Dear readers,
Welcome to Fort Collins and Colorado State University, Rams! Whether this is your first year on campus or one on top of many, allow me to welcome you to CSU and The Rocky Mountain Collegian.
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My name is Allie Seibel, and I’m returning for my second year as editor-in-chief of The Collegian. A little bit about us: The Collegian has been around since 1891 and is the oldest college newspaper west of the Mississippi. We’re among the oldest college newspapers in the country and are also one of the oldest publications in the state of Colorado.
The Collegian has always existed to serve Fort Collins and CSU, and it has seen the campus and community through every major historical event in the last 133 years. We’ve had different names, different masthead logos and different editorial staffs that bring different ideas, but the core mission of The Collegian — to report unbiased, local news to our audience — remains the same.
The Collegian is unique in its structure as a paper. We’re the newspaper department of an independent corporation called Rocky Mountain Student Media Corporation. In 2008, RMSMC was formed after a rather dramatic incident involving profanity, politics and personal beliefs being printed on our front page in about 70-point font — if you’re curious, Google it. It made international news.
In the best interests of both the university and The Collegian, RMSMC was formed as an entity separate from CSU. That means we’re fortunate enough to be an independent newspaper, free from editorial control of the university. We can publish what we want and are funded through advertisers, donations and a contract with the Associated Students of CSU.
Each and every member of our staff is incredibly proud of the work, history and legacy of The Collegian. We all devote ourselves to maintaining the honorable tradition of accurate reporting, and as we begin another school year, we invite anyone interested in reporting to come write for one of our six content desks or join us an illustrator or a photographer. All of our positions are paid, and I can confidently say you’ll become acquainted with CSU’s campus and Fort Collins in an incredibly unique way, and you’ll meet some amazing people.
If you’re a first-year reading this in your new dorm room, welcome to the beginning of one of the most exciting adventures of your life: college. It’ll be scary, it’ll be overwhelming and, hopefully, it’ll be wonderful. You’ll have good days and bad days, you’ll fall on your face likely a few dozen times more than you’d like and you’ll make some of the most vibrant memories possible. You’ll meet people from all over, and you’ll hear their stories. You’ll learn how to be a student and, more importantly, how to be a person. Go easy on yourself as you adjust to this new environment.
We’ve got a massive year coming up on campus. CSU is hosting three huge rivalry football games at Canvas Stadium in the fall alongside many more student community-building events that start this week with Ram Welcome.
Beyond campus, it’s a presidential election year — possibly the most unprecedented and contentious yet — which will bring different perspectives, beliefs and conversations to the campus community. While it is impossible to know now what will happen at the ballot boxes in November, it is important to remember that each student on this campus shares in being a Ram and to exercise kindness, maturity and good judgement when engaging with differing ideals. The Collegian takes our responsibility to be a trusted news source very seriously, so you have my commitment to unbiased and fair news, political or otherwise.
As always, we’ll be with you for everything this year — every up and down, every victory and defeat, major and minor news. We’ll get to the bottom of systemic issues through our investigative journalism and hopefully inform you of some unique moments in Fort Collins this year.
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If you ever want to discuss The Collegian, share story ideas or get involved in any way, don’t hesitate to reach out to editor@collegian.com.
Welcome home, Rams.
Allie Seibel, editor-in-chief
