Past editors: Collegian essential to campus

We were disheartened to read the Oct. 16 story “Red Ink”—disheartened with the prospect of someday losing The Butler Collegian and with an administration seemingly comfortable with letting that happen.

The demise of The Collegian would not only impact the student journalists who spend their time reporting, editing and shooting photographs. It would end a valuable forum that has served the student body since 1886.

Without The Collegian, Butler would not fulfill part of its mission to foster “a stimulating intellectual community built upon interactive dialogue and inquiry among students, faculty and staff.”

Our time as editors on The Collegian taught us far more than any class ever could, preparing us for the responsibilities, deadlines and conflicts that exist in the workplace.

While required internships prepared us somewhat for the real world, they didn’t give us the same editorial discretion given by The Collegian. We still use the skills and knowledge we gathered spending more than 30 hours a week on the second floor of Fairbanks.

Ask any Bulldog, past or present, who found a home at The Collegian: It had a profound effect on his or her growth as an individual and as a citizen.

The Collegian doesn’t just impact journalism majors. It’s also one of Butler’s shining jewels, continually putting the university’s name in the spotlight by demonstrating excellence in journalism.

Last year, The Collegian was named the best all-around small non-daily student newspaper in the country by the Society of Professional Journalists. It earned the highest honor in college journalism in 2011, the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Award.

To erase that legacy would be disgraceful.

The Collegian is an educational necessity. It is no different to journalism majors as a laboratory is to a chemistry major or a performance is to a ballet major.

The paper must be funded.

The funding options outlined in the story seem viable and we hope that one or more of them is possible.

It would be a shame for the dean, provost and president to allow a legacy of more than 125 years of student engagement to end on their watch.

 

Sara Pruzin, ‘12

Hayleigh Colombo, ‘12

Olivia Ingle, ‘12

Jill McCarter, ‘13

Tara McElmurry, ‘13

Caitlin O’Rourke ‘12

Arika Herron, ‘11

Emily Newell, ‘11

Alyson Ahrns, ‘10

Meg Biallas, ‘10

Paige Chapman ‘10

Kelly Patrick Slone, ‘10

Jennifer Pignolet ‘10

Tessa Boeing Skidmore, ‘09

Bob Herman, ‘09

Jon Irons, ‘09

Matt Vachlon, ‘09

Meg Shaw, ‘08

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