The Los Angeles Times coined student journalists’ experience this past year as “baptism by fire”: At Columbia, journalism students broadcasted NYPD’s raid on the college’s encampment back in May 2024. At UCLA, student journalists documented the police raid of their Pro-Palestinian encampment. As the Trump administration threatens student speech and press freedom, student journalists are continuing their coverage at colleges and universities across the country.
For one of my final senior projects, I interviewed student editors of newspapers across the country to hear what their biggest challenges are today—five years out of a pandemic, two years after Oct. 7 and five months into Trump’s second term. Across the board, student journalists not only faced pressures at the national level, but also within their own universities, from their peers, administrators and alumni. Interviewing these student journalists was disheartening, but in a way, I found it rewarding. I could not help but think of the challenges The Miscellany News has faced in my four years here.
Like any student publication, The Miscellany News is not perfect. In fact, it is far from it. We make mistakes, and we correct ourselves. We teach ourselves—there is no other option. There is no journalism major at Vassar. In the first few weeks of my tenure as Editor-in-Chief, in September 2023, the College was sued for pay-discrimination. Our frontline coverage ensured that the massive unrest on campus would not go unnoticed, publishing letters signed by dozens of professors. The desire for the College to keep the lawsuit under wraps spearheaded our work to keep it relevant.
Over a year after that lawsuit was filed, we continued to report on the subject, publishing op-eds from professors and students on campus and writing on the protests that urged a faster resolution to the accusation. A few weeks after the College was sued, Oct. 7, 2023 reignited massive calls for Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel on campus. In our coverage, we faced pressure from all aisles—from right here on campus to people thousands of miles away. Meeting after meeting with our Editorial Board, we weighed our actions against their risks. Many of us skipped classes, stayed up late working in the office and answered our texts and emails within minutes.
But life on campus became contentious. Without knowing where I drew the line between being a journalist and being a student, my relationship with certain administrators and students revolved around my role on The Misc. Student journalists are treated as students first, journalists second. In reality, we often put our role as reporters and editors before anything else.
In my senior project, I stumbled across a startling report from the Student Press Law Center. With the erosion of news organizations, it states, “College and university journalists are today asked to bear more responsibility than ever before as front-line information providers for the entire community. It is therefore essential that they enjoy the protections of a free press.”
Still, we do not. College journalists are constantly at odds with administrators, alumni, peers and government officials while given none of the professional protections. Without student journalists, much of the in-depth coverage of campus life would be lost—and the threats that Trump poses only emphasizes the need to back a new generation of reporters.
So in my final piece published with The Miscellany News, I say thank you—not just to those I have been fortunate enough to work with over the past four years—but to the (student) journalists across the country, fighting dozens of pressures to maintain their coverage. I say thank you to the academics who believe in a true journalism education. I say thank you to everyone who supported and continues to support The Misc (and every student publication). This publication has and will continue to mean the world to me. The wonderful people on The Misc taught me that at the next turning point in history—at the next crisis—student journalists will still be there to provide frontline coverage of our nation’s biggest stories, no matter the risks. I could have never pursued this career without you all. Thank you.