Dear readers,
This extra-special collaborative edition of The Collegian and the CU Independent started as a beaming idea just three short weeks ago.
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On Aug. 23, we and our managing editors were invited to speak at a roundtable event at the Colorado Press Association’s fall convention about the challenges facing student journalists today. Having been tasked with creating an extra-special edition for the Rocky Mountain Showdown, The Collegian approached student journalists from the University of Colorado Boulder and asked if they would be interested in collaborating on the paper. It was the fastest “Yes!” The Collegian has ever received.
That instantaneous “Yes!” was provided by the CU Independent. The CU Independent is CU Boulder’s editorially independent and student-run newspaper. Through a rich history spanning four decades, a name change and countless editorial boards, the CU Independent has flourished from a once university-affiliated course offering to a fully student-run, award-winning publication with a mission shared by our now-dear friends at The Collegian: to foster an informed university community and help student journalists grow in an increasingly competitive and unstable yet vital field.
The ideas and anticipation began to snowball quickly and suddenly. This idea involved cross-posting stories and content across websites and social media outlets, a split masthead, publishing the CU Independent physical print papers for the first time since 2006 and handing out copies at the Colorado State University tailgate before the game, all in the spirit of a good-natured rivalry.
At a certain point, CSU’s marketing and communications team pitched the collaboration to local media outlets, and a reporter at The Denver Post was interested. She talked to her editor, and 20 minutes later, the news was suddenly going to be in the news.
As this project grew and grew, facing unforeseeable challenges and heartwarming successes, both The Collegian and the CU Independent started to realize the rarity and importance of what we were getting to create: two independent newspapers from two rival schools coming together to produce a special edition about one of the oldest traditions in our rivalry.
Both The Collegian and the CU Independent are independent newspapers from our universities, something not common in college media. With trust in media facing new lows nationwide and independent publications such as The Collegian and the CU Independent facing unprecedented challenges day after day, it has grown increasingly clear the best way for us to serve our communities is to support and learn from each other, all while poking fun at a decades-old rivalry.
Beyond the importance of independent student journalism, the collaboration between The Collegian and the CU Independent, while, yes, focusing mainly on the sometimes not-so-friendly relationship between the two schools, brought intrastate bonding and friendship. Our management teams got to know each other and now consider one another friends. This, really, is what the Rocky Mountain Showdown is emblematic of — not the rivalry, not the game, not the coaches or the final score or outcome — but of Colorado and what it means to be a college student in this state.
For student journalists, our futures are always uncertain. To successfully complete a project of this magnitude and truly unite Colorado student journalism at the highest level by bringing our staffs together to create this special, one-of-a-kind edition was an experience we will all treasure forever. We invite you to enjoy content brought to you by the independent voices of Colorado student media, no matter if you’re wearing black and gold or green and gold on Saturday.
Go Rams, and Sko Buffs!
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Allie Seibel, editor-in-chief, Rocky Mountain Collegian
Jessi Sachs, editor-in-chief, CU Independent
Reach Allie Seibel and Jessi Sachs at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
