CUIndependent.com is a young organization, especially when you consider us alongside other student publications, some of which have been in print for a century or more. We’ve been online-only since 2006, a move that showcased some impressive foresight. But because we weren’t available in print, much of the student body didn’t know we existed.
I think it’s safe to say that the campus community (and beyond) now knows we exist. The 2013-14 academic year was a banner one for the CUI in many ways, and though we go dark during the summer — except for breaking news and the occasional timely feature — we’re expecting to carry that momentum into August, when we kick things off with the new semester.
Here’s what we’ve done in the last nine months:
We covered the flood in just about every way imaginable. We launched a radio show. We created a database of grades for all classes at CU Boulder. We explained the Affordable Care Act and net neutrality, among other hard-to-grasp concepts that dominated national and international media coverage. We wrote some nerdy blog posts (see here and here). We published an op-ed contributing to a passionate discussion about sexual assault on college campuses. We published a multiple-part series on student fees. We creatively documented what ended up being a relatively uneventful, though still significant, 4/20. We networked with phenomenal student journalists at other universities (shout-outs to our friends at the Collegian, Emerald Media and The Daily Texan). We invited Pulitzer winners into our newsroom, and they taught us more than we ever could have hoped.
We officially became one of the best student media organizations in the country, winning some hardware from the Associated Collegiate Press and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Here’s what you can expect in the near future: more of the same.
The lack of a print presence has hurt us in the past. Not anymore; we refuse to let it. Our journalists know they’re limited to telling stories online only. They’ve turned that into not being limited at all.
I’m thrilled to be sticking around for one more semester as editor, and thrilled that so many of our staffers are also returning. But several members of the 2013-14 team — some of whom had been at the CUI since their freshman year — have recently graduated, and it’s up to those of us who are still here to make up for the enormous losses in talent and ambition that are already being felt.
Before we sign off for the summer, we’d like to say thank you. Thanks for reading, watching, listening, clicking, liking, sharing, following, Tweeting, commenting, reacting. There are many ways to experience the CUI, and you’ve blown us away by doing all of them.
See you in August,
Annie Melton
Contact CU Independent Editor-in-chief Annie Melton at anne.melton@colorado.edu.
