Our point THIS WEEK:
The Collegian’s leadership has changed; The quality will not.
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The Collegian will introduce a new editor-in-chief for the spring semester and more adjustments are sure to follow.
Although The Collegian’s leadership will change for the second time this academic year, the quality of the newspaper will not falter.
The Butler Collegian was established before The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and The Denver Post.
To survive and thrive for as long as The Collegian has, handling change has become the newspaper’s top skill.
Not only is change inevitable, it is constant.
With the support of the student body, staff, faculty and the administration, The Collegian is able to publish thoughtful and entertaining stories, photos and cartoons that address Butler University’s greatest concerns and triumphs.
The Collegian has you, the readers, to thank for the assurance that each and every year will feature one of the best student publications in the United States.
Butler’s newspaper was founded in 1886. The first issue was published in January of that year.
The reasons behind creating a student newspaper for Butler, a university that was established just 30 years earlier, was simple: Students must be given avenues to express their positive or negative opinions about their school.
In the very first staff editorial, The Collegian wrote:
“It can not but be acceded by all that great good may be derived from the publication of a college journal, which labors faithfully and fearlessly in the interest of the students and the university of which it is the representative.
“It is the medium of communication, in which the students of one institution may acquaint themselves with the thoughts and characteristics of one another. It keeps aglow the fire of enthusiasm and spirit; it is a link which binds us closer to our Alma Mater.
“Above all, it affords the student an opportunity of giving expression to his opinions.”
The Collegian promised to be candid and just in its criticism and praise of the university. The Collegian promised to be independent of any personal prejudices.
The Collegian also promised to welcome feedback, encouragement and support of the new enterprise that would soon become an award-winning publication.
As stated previously, change is certainly constant. Nonetheless, The Collegian has never changed its founding principles, and it never will.
The production of the newspaper will always meet a high standard of journalism as evidenced by its weekly publication.
A great amount of effort and time goes into the finished edition of The Collegian. The people who create this newspaper, a passionate group of students of different majors and other classifications, promise to deliver a newspaper that is worth more than awards and accolades.
The ultimate goal of The Collegian has always been to push forward fearlessly in search of truth and justice.
It goes without saying that The Collegian is not a perfect newspaper. No one on the staff is perfect. No one that attends this university is perfect. No one that works at this university is perfect.
The Collegian’s editor-in-chief will make mistakes at times and so will the staff. All future problems will be recognized, discussed and evaluated. Solutions to all issues will be discovered.
Life is far too short. There is no time to sit and wonder what could have been.
The Collegian is in the business of showing readers what Butler University will be.
Butler University was founded upon freedom of all kinds. Freedom from discrimination and in The Collegian’s case, freedom of the press.
Ovid Butler, the university’s founder, was a newspaper publisher himself and a political abolitionist. He also helped pioneer co-education of the sexes.
In honor of Butler’s storied traditions, The Collegian will remain focused on the student body and the glorious men and women of the distant past, present and future.
The Collegian will continue to represent the university as best it can.
The newspaper’s staff will change each year. The newspaper’s promise to readers, however, never will.
