The Middlebury Campus has recently received a number of inquiries about our process for granting anonymity and removing names and pictures from our online publication. Our official policy on the subject, as listed on our website, remains the same: We only grant sources anonymity if they have a credible fear of retaliation or other specific, harmful consequences that would result from being named in our paper.
We consider anonymity a privilege, not a right, that is to be used sparingly in order to maintain our credibility. The Campus is made up of student journalists eager to write strong stories and report on critical issues, and while naming sources ensures our readers’ trust, protecting people’s privacy can be an essential part of our work. In recent memory we have offered anonymity to staff members speaking out against their managers and supervisors; we’ve heard from members of Facilities Services and Dining Services about the unfair burdens of understaffing while simultaneously being underpaid.
The very first op-ed I edited as a member of the paper’s Exec Team was an anonymous piece by a local restaurant employee sharing their view on deteriorated town-gown relations. When a story would otherwise go untold due to tangible fears of retaliation from an employer, the college administration or other forces, The Campus must balance transparency with safety.
Like many other student newspapers, our editorial standards have been challenged in recent weeks. An op-ed in the fellow NESCAC student publication the Tufts Daily appears to have contributed to the detainment of a graduate student there, prompting ethical questions about the best practices for student reporters. In the past two months, we have received about a dozen requests from students and alumni looking to remove their names from previously published stories out of fear that their quotations and op-eds may flag them to the U.S. government.
Our process to each request is a case-by-case approach. We evaluate every person’s unique circumstances to see how we can best preserve a story’s integrity without endangering people in our community. We have retroactively changed several stories on our website for international students who have specific fears about their immigration status in the U.S. This is not an automatic decision; I have also rejected inquiries from contributors looking for changes who did not have clear, safety-based reasons to seek anonymity.
In our decisions we have been guided by the practices of other student newspapers and legal guidance from the Student Press Law Center, a national nonprofit dedicated to defending and advising student publications on a range of issues. They recommended earlier this month that newspapers consider granting requests to remove previously published names when there is a compelling reason because “ethical journalism demands that we minimize harm.”
The decision to edit previously published stories is not one we made lightly. The editors on our staff are serious about their duty to report on major issues and concerns at the college, and that requires trust from our readers. The Campus is not afraid to publish controversial stories — I’ve written several myself — and as a result we frequently receive criticism, whether that lands in my email inbox, in our website’s comment section or on YikYak. We can publish these investigative, sometimes controversial stories because our readers know we hold ourselves to a high standard of journalism.
We are still committed to issuing corrections when we make factual mistakes, and our anonymity policy will remain the same for any student, faculty member, employee or administrator we speak to this spring. We will not remove entire quotes or unpublish opinion pieces from our website; our changes have been strictly limited to removing identifying information. Yet the current situation in the U.S. calls for an exceptional response to credible fears among our student body for their safety in the U.S.
To students who feel they may have safety concerns about their name or image being in our newspaper: reach out to me directly. I want to understand your concerns so we can make the best decision that will protect both of our interests. To anyone who feels afraid of being named in our paper in the future, do not let that discourage you from talking to us or submitting an op-ed. We want to hear your concerns and share your story, whether or not you are named publicly. Our writers and editors are as committed as ever to holding Middlebury College accountable; it is more important than ever for people to tell us what they’re thinking and feeling on a campus-wide and national level.
As the whole college community navigates the uncertain environment of higher education, so too is The Campus adapting to the new reality of student journalism in 2025. The priority for our approach to anonymity this spring is maintaining our rigorous editorial standards while considering the best interests of the student body and college community as a whole.
Ryan McElroy '25 (he/him) is the Editor in Chief.
Ryan has previously served as a Managing Editor, News Editor and Staff Writer. He is majoring in history with a minor in art history. Outside of The Campus, he is co-captain of Middlebury Mock Trial and previously worked as Head Advising Fellow for Matriculate and a research assistant in the History department. Last summer Ryan interned as a global risk analyst at a bank in Charlotte, North Carolina.
