We write this letter in our capacity as Co-Editors-in-Chief at The Catalyst, Colorado College’s independent student newspaper. We have witnessed an alarming pattern of punitive responses to students exercising their 1st amendment rights at CC, which has silenced student voices and prevented us from doing our jobs as truth-tellers, watchdogs, and most importantly, a forum for courageous conversation.
Following a sit-in in Tutt Library during Block 6, CC administration raised 12 conduct cases against students, threatening suspension and other escalations of disciplinary action. These students’ nonviolent exercise of their constitutionally protected right to free speech was labeled as “disruptive” to the campus community and the operations of the college. Despite calls for vacation from faculty, alumni and students, these conduct cases remain open.
In our experience as student journalists currently covering organizing on campus related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, we have borne witness to the coercive and silencing consequences of these disciplinary actions.
In our roles as reporters and as mentors of other student reporters, we have seen a wide-reaching fear of retribution from the administration among student activists. Consistently and repeatedly, student organizers on campus have refused to speak to The Catalyst about their intentions, efforts and goals – citing a fear of conduct-related retaliation from the administration.
Our ability to cover these issues subsequently has been severely impaired. We cannot act as a forum for dialogue, through which our community might reach shared understanding, because we are unable to represent the voices and opinions of student activists. In this way, we feel CC has weaponized the threat of conduct cases as a tool to silence student organizers. For international and low-income students especially, the threat of suspension is existential.
We would be remiss not to acknowledge there is a preexisting distrust of media outside of the ongoing situation unfolding within these conduct cases. We know that we cannot entirely attribute the fear among students to Colorado College’s actions alone. Organizers across the country have refused to go on record. In covering this issue, institutions as large as The New York Times have gotten it wrong – we cannot claim that we will not stumble in our coverage of this issue too. But we refuse to stand silently and watch helplessly as Colorado College’s actions build a culture of silencing students who are courageous enough to stand up against the status quo. We stand firm in our commitment to do everything in our power to create a campus community that values and protects free speech.
Student activists have CC’s proclaimed values in mind as they engage in nonviolent activism. CC claims to have a vested interest in raising students to be critical thinkers and leaders. There is a profound courage to the organizers currently acting on campus, who, despite facing conduct cases, remain tireless in their pursuit of their interpretation of justice. Student activists knowingly risk their world-class education to address what they feel is a humanitarian crisis unfolding before their eyes. No matter how you view their means, they are attempting to act as instigators of critical dialogue as they best know how — which the college claims repeatedly and vehemently to teach and foster in its student body. It is the duty of the school to do everything in their power to act as a guiding force, which aims to be helpful, instructive and productive, rather than harshly punitive and unresponsive.
Raising disciplinary action against these students is in direct opposition to CC’s proclaimed mission, vision and values, as well as its commitment to anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion. It also serves to restrict intellectual and academic freedom. We further recognize that BIPOC students are affected disproportionately by disciplinary action.
At The Catalyst, we have been forced to adapt to current attitudes of distrust and fear by offering anonymity to protestors cited in our articles, specifically to protect them from administrative backlash. We fear student organizers will still refuse to talk to us and our reporting will have a level of incompleteness because of it. This new policy inhibits our ability to verify information with complete confidence. Moreover, anonymity limits our capacity to create a bridge of opinion and information between administration, faculty, and students of differing viewpoints.
There is much work to be done to restore trust between organizers, administration, and student journalists. We look forward to continuing that work for the duration of our tenure. Right now however, there is a very clear action that CC can take to support us in the pursuit of truth, storytelling and accountability of institutions of power.
To facilitate a campus culture that recognizes, fosters, and celebrates the courageous exercise of free speech, Marynn Krull and Leigh Walden, in our role as Co-EICS, call upon the Colorado College administration to immediately vacate charges against student organizers exercising their constitutionally protected rights.
We urge those in positions of authority at Colorado College to re-establish a campus that values dissent, critical thought, and the civic power of the First Amendment. As another bastion of the First Amendment, we hold dearly our capacity to do the same.
Please allow us to do the best work we can in service to Colorado College.
Sincerely,
Leigh Walden ‘25 and Marynn Krull ‘26