From your editors: We’re pulling back the curtain

Allie Seibel, Hannah Parcells, and Adah McMillan

August 21, 2024

Dear readers,

Student journalism has been a part of Colorado State University since 1891. It all started with us — The Rocky Mountain Collegian. We’ve had many different iterations of our name: The Rocky Mountain Collegian, The Fort Collins Journal, Collegian and The Collegian have all graced the top of our page, called the masthead.

From there, the KCSU radio station was started and then Collegian TV. In 2008, the existence of Rocky Mountain Student Media Corporation also came from us, thanks to our infamous and often-mentioned freedom of speech incident. Now that we’re independent, the RMSMC family has some new members: College Avenue Magazine, Fifty03 Visuals and Tree Stump Films.

We’ve had dozens and dozens of editors in chief and even more staff members. In our 100th year, over 2,000 people had worked at The Collegian. Thirty-three years later, that number continues to grow.

We’re one of the oldest college papers in the country and crack the top-three oldest list in the west. Our halls are decorated with framed awards and stories that made a splash. We’ve covered the city and the campus since our inception. For a time, we printed national news from the Associated Press wires. Historically, we’ve published as a daily for the longest amount of time, a monthly at the start of our history and, currently, a weekly.

The 1997 Spring Creek Flood wiped out a section of our physical archives, but most of them still exist in the library and in our conference room. This year, we want to highlight both our internal process with this edition and reflect on our history as we enter our 134th year.

Student journalism is guided by a list of ethics through the Society of Professional Journalists — imploring us to act independently, minimize harm and seek the truth and report it. These principles are printed in the editor in chief’s office and remain our guidepost alongside the First Amendment and CSU’s Principles of Community. These three documents guide our reporting and editing. They make the paper what it is today.

In a world increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence, fake news and general dishonesty, trust in our news sources is rare. While many news organizations are staffed by reporters committed to ethical and accurate journalism, it’s difficult and time-consuming to sort the good from the bad, especially in an election year and especially when much of the journalistic process is a mystery to the general public.

To address the unknowns surrounding the methods of news gathering — at least at our newspaper — this edition brings you a peek behind the curtain, an introduction to the processes and policies that make The Collegian uniquely The Collegian. This is all about us: the stories we’ve written that have left an impact on us as editors, the vision for our desks this year, more about us individually as people and the memories captured by a camera that defined our experience at The Collegian thus far.

We invite you to join us as we reminisce on our mission, path and purpose. Welcome.

Allie Seibel, editor in chief

Hannah Parcells, content managing editor

Adah McMillan, executive editor

Reach Allie Seibel, Hannah Parcells and Adah McMillan at editor@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.

About the Contributors

Allie Seibel, Editor in Chief

Returning for her second year as editor-in-chief, Allie Seibel could not be more proud of the experience The Collegian has given her over her tenure at Colorado State University thus far. Seibel is a junior in the Honors program and on the prelaw track, studying journalism and media communication with minors in legal studies and business administration. She is also an Honors ambassador and an Honors peer mentor as well as a satellite imagery writer for the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at CSU and a member of the Center for Public Deliberation. Seibel started at The Collegian the summer before her first semester of college, getting involved through her orientation session and beginning her first year as news editor. She got the position before ever setting foot on campus as a student, which was one of the most formative experiences of her collegiate journalism career. She then began her current role her sophomore year, becoming the youngest editor-in-chief in Collegian history. Under Seibel's leadership, The Collegian was awarded an all-around best in show fifth place award at the College Media Association's national convention. Seibel is from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and spends her free time reading, cooking, cross-stitching, paddleboarding and taking photos. She is a huge traveler and seizes any opportunity she can to see the world. As she begins her second year at the helm of The Collegian, Seibel is excited to continue the immense legacy of the newspaper both in print and online by expanding investigative coverage and pushing readers to discover more about their surroundings on campus. She looks forward to maintaining The Collegian's reputation as a trustworthy news source both on campus and in the community.

Hannah Parcells, Content Managing Editor

Hannah Parcells is incredibly proud to step into the role of content managing editor at The Collegian for the 2024-25 school year. Parcells is currently pursuing two degrees: a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in political science with a concentration in global politics. Stubborn, opinionated and endlessly curious, Parcells has always been passionate about understanding and helping other people, and she hopes to use her education to leave the world a little better than she found it. Born into an Air Force family, Parcells spent her youth exploring the Great Plains and developed a deep love of all things nature. When she wasn’t exploring the world at her fingertips, Parcells often had her nose stuck in a book, which is how she discovered her love of science, history and, above all, a good story. Parcells stumbled headfirst into The Collegian in fall 2023 as a reporter when she transferred to Colorado State University and a friend recommended it due to her passion for writing. She fell in love with chasing down stories and became the news editor at the end of her first semester. Parcells strongly believes in the power of information and is committed to upholding The Collegian’s long history of honest reporting and encouraging readers to get out and explore the world around them. On the off chance she’s not buried in textbooks, research papers or policy analyses, Parcells can be found on a hike, listening to music or at any local bookstore or coffee shop, feeding her ongoing addiction to both caffeine and good books.

Adah McMillan, Executive Editor

Adah McMillan is the executive editor for The Collegian and is enthusiastic for another year working with the copy desk. McMillan is majoring in journalism and media communication and minoring in computer science, and she will graduate this December. She hails from Longmont, Colorado. As executive editor, McMillan safeguards the readability and credibility of The Collegian. She works with the copy chief and other copy editors to edit all print and online articles for grammar, style and accuracy. Editing is one of McMillan’s favorite things to do. She loves being involved in The Collegian’s production and learning about Colorado State University and the Fort Collins community as she edits content. McMillan also enjoys playing the piano, rereading her favorite books, rewatching her favorite shows and drinking Coke Zero. When she isn’t being thusly sedentary, she’s walking around campus to soak in some sunlight and daydream about moving to Thailand. McMillan often says it’s hard for her to think about her future career because she already works her dream job. The Collegian is a community of passionate, intelligent people working for the grand cause of student journalism, and McMillan is thrilled to take part in that purpose.

Cait Mckinzie, Photo Director

Cait Mckinzie is a second-year student double majoring in art and journalism and media communication. She is one of two photo directors for the 2024-25 school year. Despite growing up in Renton, Washington, Mckinzie knew she wanted to go to Colorado State University since middle school. She had only ever been to Colorado twice, but she visited campus once, and that was all it took. At first, there wasn’t much in Fort Collins that Mckinzie was familiar with. But in high school, she was the co-head of visuals for her school newspaper, so she applied to The Collegian as a photographer to get back into a similar environment. Mckinzie was first introduced to photography by her grandfather, who has been a photographer most of his life. After he gifted Mckinzie her first camera in her junior year of high school, she began to take any assignment she could for her high school paper to improve her skills. Of all the memories made in her first year at CSU, most of the interesting ones came from The Collegian. One Halloween drag show assignment, a lot of mentorship and a few months of practice later, Mckinzie found herself being offered the position of photo director for the next academic school year. Mckinzie is excited for another year at The Collegian and aims to continue learning and growing during her time as one of the photo directors.

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