Student journalists rise to an unprecedented challenge

This fall, I’ve been immersed in news about higher education. I typically report about drug policy, but I signed on to co-edit a weekly newsletter out of the Columbia Journalism School, where I teach, that covers the Trump administration’s assault on colleges and universities across the country. It’s called CollegeWatch.

For this job, I am reading constantly about the topic — stories we’re publishing, yes, but also stories from publications big and small. What quickly struck me is the power of the work coming out of campus publications, and how little we would know about the full scale of this assault if it were not for these student journalists.

Despite the potential for significant personal risk, from suspensions to deportations, student journalists across the country are reporting stories about how the Trump administration is transforming their campuses — stories that would otherwise likely go untold.

In just the past few weeks, The Daily Campus reported on the University of Connecticut’s reluctance to comment publicly on its relationship with Avelo Airlines, which runs deportation flights for ICE, while The Chronicle revealed Duke University is trying to limit faculty engagement with the media in an effort to stave off federal ire. The Daily Bruin reported that the University of California renamed its Department of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion the Office of Culture and Inclusive Excellence, while The UCSD Guardian reported that UC San Diego renamed a scholarship for Black alumni and opened it up to all applicants.

And this is just skimming the surface. These students are also tracking ICE near campus, they’re unpacking the agreements their schools are signing with the Trump administration, and they’re capturing classroom censorship.

This work will only become more difficult in the coming years. Just days ago, The Crimson White broke the news that the University of Alabama is shutting two student magazines — one focused on women, fashion, and wellness, another focused on Black students and culture — in response to a memo from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that said “entities receiving federal funds” must “ensure that their programs and activities” don’t “discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or other protected characteristics — no matter the program’s labels, objectives, or intentions.”

These student journalists are facing unprecedented pressures. I have no doubt that they will continue to rise to the challenge.