Leah Ollie joined The Butler Collegian as a culture reporter during her first year on campus. Photo by Jada Gangazha.
ALISON MICCOLIS | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | amiccolis@butler.edu
Junior English major Leah Ollie will serve as The Butler Collegian editor-in-chief for the 2024-25 academic year.
Ollie most recently served as one of the Collegian’s managing editors. However, she joined the Collegian staff her first semester at Butler where she was a reporter for the Culture section before stepping into the role of Culture co-editor her sophomore year.
“I’ve been able to work my way up from being a staff reporter to section editor to managing editor, so I have insights to all the different levels of publication process and sort of what that can feel like to be on staff in those different positions,” Ollie said. “I think that will help me to listen very carefully and empathize and work in collaboration with staff on all different levels. I want to be very transparent and accessible in terms of my decision making and work very closely with my other editors and other staff … to make those decisions.”
Ollie ran for editor-in-chief on a platform that consisted of four main objectives: university focus on investigative and structural reporting, equity and just coverage, big-picture impact and internal sustainability. She wants to make sure the Collegian, and everyone who works on staff, practices responsible journalism.
“My goals are mainly oriented around rethinking and working on improving the Collegian’s relationship with our audience, which is not only something we can do through listening to the campus community, such as students and our readers here on campus but also listening to the movements and … programming of other student papers at other campuses,” Ollie said. “I really want to prioritize listening to the community so we can not only hear from them the stories that they would like to hear but also how we can most responsibly and respectfully cover what they are doing.”
In addition to her work on the Collegian, Ollie has served as a digital content intern for WFYI Indianapolis, a peer tutor for the Butler University Writers’ Studio, president of Butler’s Black Student Union, the associate editor and diversity, equity and inclusion chair for the Manuscripts Literary Magazine and a freelance writer for True Star Media.
Ollie will be the ninth consecutive woman to serve as editor-in-chief for the publication. As she prepares to take on the role, she is excited to listen to her staff and learn the kinds of stories they want to cover, and the kinds of stories that are important to the community the Collegian serves.
“I think having a sense of how people see us as a publication and what role they think we fulfill on campus is really important,” Ollie said.
