The Campus’ Editorial Board (EB) is a group of fixed student editors who meet weekly to discuss issues important to the college community, and then publish a piece reflective of our conversations. We try to reach some degree of consensus to “call for” something, whether that’s a demand for students to pay more attention to a specific issue, or for the college administration to take a particular action, like providing more transparency to its students.
Recently, we have received some Letters to the Editor in response to various editorials. Since our board often advocates for transparency, I thought this would be a good opportunity to provide some of our own and explain how The Campus creates its editorials. The EB’s weekly piece represents the opinion of not just one person, but a larger group of our editors. As EB Director, I generate ideas for topics, help guide the group conversation and oversee the final piece for publication.
Any member of The Campus can join the EB; we send an open invitation to editors, writers and staff at the beginning of the semester. The managing editors, senior editors and opinions editors are required to participate in the EB. Any other editor can join, and we aim to welcome a variety of class years to partake in the discussions.
Our editorials respond to topical campus events and issues, covering what we feel is most relevant to our community each week; they often coincide with our objective news articles.
At our weekly meeting, we discuss the topic, sharing personal anecdotes and opinions shaped by our own experiences. Everything we share during these meetings is confidential; we agree not to share anything with non-EB members beyond what goes into the final piece. The confidential nature of our discussions is how we guarantee that the EB remains an open and comfortable space, and that the editorial piece will be as authentic and reflective of our true beliefs as possible. A rotating editor writes a piece representative of the discussion, which fellow editors then workshop.
The final editorial reflects the broadest consensus reached through proactive, free-form discussions within the group. We do not always agree on the final content, nor should we. We believe in the process we follow and want to make sure our readers appreciate the importance of the open and respectful discussions that lead to the editorials we publish. When an EB discussion is divided, we make it clear to our readers the range of rich opinions that surfaced during our conversation.
One of our notable uses of the EB is our yearly endorsement of SGA candidates. We invite all presidential candidates and their vice presidents — even those abroad via Zoom — to present us with a pitch for their candidacy before fielding questions from our staff. Some of our reflections this semester have focused on MiddCore’s partnership with Open AI, the closure of MiddSafe and MIIS and the various opinions held about free speech on campus. Our board changes each semester as members graduate and The Campus hires new editors. We encourage all students to join The Campus and, in turn, become part of our EB. A strong EB is only as strong as its diversity of thought.
At our EB meetings, we express personal opinions. When writing, we distance ourselves from these opinions and instead aim to convey the consensus viewpoint. If you disagree with something we publish, want to present an alternative perspective or provide another example to our argument, we encourage you to respond by submitting a Letter To The Editor, a direct response to an article that has been published. We encourage this as it is a strong way to foster dialogue and discussion within our community. The best way to submit is via email to campus@middlebury.edu. Our publication of opinion pieces and editorials that people may disagree with is a critical element of free speech at Middlebury.
The EB is part of The Campus’s broader Opinion section. The Opinion section welcomes any op-ed on a rolling submission format. Op-eds are typically 600-900 words in length and can include visuals, data or other instruments of expression where appropriate. An op-ed should consist of a central theme or argument, and writers must substantiate all factual claims. Op-eds will go through the same editing process as our writers. Requests for anonymity are only granted in exceptional cases. It is relevant to mention that The Campus is part of Middlebury College, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization; we do not publish political statements from candidates. The Campus is grateful to all writers who have submitted op-eds, and continues to encourage others to do so.
Editor's Note: Senior Opinions Editor Yuvraj Shah ’26 contributed to this article.
Curran Amster '26 (she/her) is an Editorial Board Director.
Curran Amster is an International and Global Studies major at Middlebury College, concentrating in Spanish with a minor in Religion. She is a Rohatyn Global Fellow at Middlebury’s Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs and is currently working on her senior year thesis. Outside of academics, and her work for the Campus, Curran is also a musician and a songwriter and loves performing with her bandmates, dancing with Middlebury’s RIDDIM World Dance Troupe, and singing with the Mischords A cappella group.
