The Collegian just celebrated its 140th birthday on Jan. 31, and with the print edition of The Collegian taking a break last week for Presidents’ Day, it left some time for me to reflect and do some research.

The College Sheaves, as the newspaper was called upon its founding, was a monthly publication led by then Editor-in-Chief E.A. Anderson serving the community of the Dakota Agricultural College.

Fast-forward to 2025, and we are so much more than just a newspaper and mean so much more to this community of over 12,000 students and faculty.

Perhaps more now than ever before.

Allow me to explain.

The changing landscape of media and journalism is often on my mind and discussed in the circles that surround me and my staff, but it’s not something that is often talked about outside the walls of the newsroom.

With Feb. 27 marking Student Press Freedom Day, placed near the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District decision on Feb. 24, 1969, which established that students’ First Amendment right applies in public schools, – now is the time to shed some light on what we do. Because our existence is as important as it has ever been.

Members of the staff of The Collegian spend many hours every week in the newsroom laying out pages, editing stories, designing pages and much more. And that’s not mentioning the hours spent with the recent ventures into weekly video newscasts and rotating news on a 24/7 broadcast radio station.

All this happens between full class schedules, part-time jobs, other student organization meetings and obligations, all for a few hundred dollars a month. I would say there are few student groups that work harder and are more dedicated to what we do than a team of student journalists.

And we are committed to what we do. To providing information to the SDSU community that may be overlooked but still affect students and faculty. A college campus is a world filled with unique people and experiences, and we are a part of it. We have access to different groups and information and have the ability to critically focus on university issues.

South Dakota State University needs us to hold our administration accountable.

Collegian Media is independent. This means that we are independent of South Dakota State University, which prevents us from being filtered by the administration. This allows us to tell stories that need to be told without being afraid of retaliation.

If student journalism was not needed, The Collegian wouldn’t still be printing 140 years later.

Equally as important as the information that we offer is the platform we give to students. A space for diverse voices, whether through opinion pieces or through shedding light on issues around campus.

We are an education-based organization – we welcome students who have never held a camera or opened Adobe Creative Cloud, and we give them an opportunity to try these things out. We are a professional organization and take pride in the professional quality of our work, but it takes every single person who is a part of it to make us who we are.

A collaborative learning environment is something I strived to create once I took on the title of Editor-in-Chief, and I feel we have accomplished just that.

Without an independent student press, university administrators would not be held accountable. Student voices would be stifled, stories would go untold and aspiring journalists, ad salespeople, designers, photographers, videographers, anchors, producers and announcers would not have access to hands-on, peer-collaborated learning outside of the classroom. The SDSU community would only receive information through one point of view and not be able to explore other sides of an issue or see into our campus culture.

The Collegian has been a part of South Dakota State University since 1885 and we, along with other student publications, aren’t going anywhere. In a political climate where the media is painted as the enemy, we as college students are needed to keep our small communities held accountable and informed.