Dear Middlebury,
The three of us step into our roles this year with hope and excitement for the semester ahead. As students passionately dedicated to this publication, we are honored to serve as temporary stewards of it, just like the many who came before and will come after us.
The Campus represents a rich legacy of student-driven reporting and, for over 120 years, has served as a forum for discussion, discourse and debate. This publication is made possible every week because of the students that comprise it.
We encourage all students to get involved –– whether that is reporting on the relocation of students abroad during global conflict in the News section or reflecting on unexplored parts of campus in the Multimedia section. Our incredible digital and layout teams parse through each article to design the pages you read nearly every Thursday and continuously refine our website. As the executive team, we are privileged to direct all the work that goes into this publication.
Student journalism operates in a unique position –– especially at Middlebury. Four years here means four years walking the same halls, eating in the same dining halls and taking classes with the same people. It is four years to become very close with the people and place that surround you. Beyond being in class, clubs and basking in the beauty of the Green Mountain State, The Campus offers a serious opportunity to learn about parts of our community that you might not explore otherwise. You could find yourself in the carillon tower of the College Chapel or staring down a Bigfoot costume during a senior thesis play.
It’s not hard to start — you could write a piece tomorrow if you wanted. Four more would make you a staff writer and by the end of the semester you could join a section as an editor. A lack of experience should not stop you from starting. It didn’t stop our previous managing editor, who had never written a news article before. And it hasn’t stopped us, who are one of the younger managing teams in recent years. If you are jittery about a steep learning curve, we get it. All of our first articles were torn up by our senior editors too, but we’re here now thanks to the tight-knit community of The Campus and editors who helped us succeed.
While student journalists like us have run The Campus for decades, you wouldn’t know from its resume. The paper reported on the protests against the Vietnam War at Middlebury and across the country. It covered the contentious Charles Murray protests in 2017. It served as a forum of debate on whether Middlebury should close the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. And last year, we beat out 17 other schools for the 2025 New England College Newspaper of the Year. This paper is steeped in history and the only job requirement is that you have the desire to talk to people and the curiosity to ask questions.
In the rising industry of artificial intelligence, journalism is one space AI can’t fill; it is still reserved for humankind. Only a reporter can have meaningful conversations with people, track down leads, or read another’s face during an interview. Many will try and argue that AI can write a more polished piece than a reporter. However, one of the central issues with AI is that it’s mentally enfeebling, an escalator towards a result when you should make the daily habit of taking the stairs. So, if you join The Campus we promise you’ll gain skills that are falling out of the mainstream — and that’ll make you stand out in an era when people are outsourcing thinking to AI.
If you come across anything from campus events to local news — stories that would benefit from our reporting, news that the community could or should hear — reach out to us. Email campus@middlebury.edu or submit an anonymous news tip through our website.
We look forward to seeing your name in a byline soon.
Met Ly '28 (he/him) is a News Editor.
Met is a UWC Davis Scholar majoring in International Politics and Economics with a Creative Writing minor. He is also a fellow at the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs. He hails from Siem Reap, Cambodia and spent his gap year there as a digital marketing manager and events coordinator. Outside the newsroom, he line dances in his cowboy boots and jams out to the Arctic Monkeys.
Norah Khan '27 (she/her) is an News Editor.
Norah has previously served as a Arts & Culture Editor. She is majoring in Political Science and English, with minor in Spanish. Outside of The Campus, she is involved with Matriculate as an Advising Fellow and the Conflict Transformation Collaborative as a Conflict Coaching Peer Facilitator.
