Norwich University student journalists stand up for a free, independent press

For the first time in a century, Norwich University student newspaper The Guidon fell silent this semester as administrators suspended its operations after it published investigations into sexual assault on campus last spring. The newspaper was shuttered until this week, when, amidst an ongoing standoff with college administrators over the future of the paper, student journalists went back to work.

Although Norwich, the oldest private military college in the country, lifted the newspaper’s suspension on Oct. 14, President John Broadmeadow attached strings to the reprieve. Seeking a new enforcement mechanism to bring the paper to heel, he ordered The Guidon adopt a code of ethics, which was to be approved by him personally. After their controversial reporting on sexual assault last year, and wary of administrative overreach encroaching on an independent, student-led newspaper, Guidon staff wanted to make sure they could keep telling stories that matter. 

Forced to choose between operating under administrative oversight or continuing the pause in publication, newspaper staff chose the latter, refusing to work while demanding formal assurances of press freedom from Norwich. In order to break emerging campus news this winter, however, The Guidon recently resumed publishing on Dec. 9 — even as they still seek basic assurances of their press freedoms.

Now, in an interview with FIRE, the student journalists at The Guidon (named after a type of military pennant) explain why they decided to face-off with the administration. 

The Guidon is still standing up for its editorial independence, and although it has resumed journalistic operations, its demands for Norwich administrators to protect student press rights aren’t going anywhere.

“We’ve had an unfortunate series of events at our school throughout the past year,” said Guidon staff writer and reporter Kerry McAuley. “Our president was fired, there’s a lawsuit against the school for wrongful termination, and we had a sexual assault on our campus. And we reported all of this. These are heavy-hitting stories, and if we have the internal information, we should be sharing it with students and others in the Norwich community because it is information they need to know to make decisions. . . . If these huge things are happening and we can’t write about it, then people aren’t in the know.” 

The Guidon’s staff believes it was exactly this window into ongoing campus scandals that motivated administrators at the 200-year-old private military academy to suspend the paper’s operations. After that suspension was lifted in October, newspaper staff refused to return to work, demanding the administration agree to the following conditions:

1. Adopt New Voices Protections: The university must implement measures aligned with Vermont’s New Voices law, ensuring the independence of student journalists and protecting our ability to operate without undue influence or censorship.
2. Addressing Reputation Impact: We request a clear explanation from the Provost Dr. Karen Gaines regarding the school’s plan to address and remedy the damage to The Guidon’s reputation, intentional or not, to help restore both the paper’s standing and students’ confidence in its future.
3. Supportive Statement from DGH: We ask that the Department of Global Humanities adopt a formal statement affirming its support for The Guidon’s independence, including protections from any form of external pressures.
4. End External Involvement: We request that any policy requiring The Guidon to submit internal documents for approval be discontinued, and that external influence of any kind cease immediately. This behavior restricts student autonomy and undermines the intellectual freedom essential for an independent press. 

“There is a lack of transparency in this school, and I think they get frustrated when we call them out and say, ‘we know this happened,’ after we’ve done an investigation and we have the facts,” McAuley told FIRE.

This lack of transparency even extends to why Norwich shut the paper down. Guidon staff say they still can’t get a straight answer to that question. 

According to staff writer and reporter Mitchell Drain, Provost Karen Gaines said The Guidon was shut down for “lack of academic rigor” and because the school does not have a journalism major. But no other Vermont schools have similar prerequisites for student journalism, he said, and The Guidon has been operating for more than 100 years. 

“So for the school to suddenly shut us down, well,” said Drain, “you can draw your own conclusions based on that.”

“For the school just to say that because the newspaper is student-led,” added Lilian Lu, co-editor of The Guidon, “therefore we are not adequate enough to be an independent news organization, completely overlooks our efforts.”

Not only is Norwich’s official reason for the suspension insulting, but it’s also dubious. The whole censorial saga began when Andrii Shadrin, an international student and former co-editor of The Guidon, published an article about a sexual assault at Norwich on May 2. The article was controversial, prompting a “mixed reception on campus, both online and in-person,” and even led The Guidon’s editorial board to publish a piece defending their reporting on the matter. 

The Guidon continued to publish articles on sexual assault and Title IX issues throughout the spring. Meanwhile, administrators pulled Shadrin and The Guidon’s faculty advisor into meetings for questioning before putting the student paper under investigation and eventually suspending its publication. After receiving intimidating emails from the provost and facing administrator demands for login information, Shadrin felt threatened. Wary of jeopardizing his visa, he felt it necessary to step back from the paper.

This over-the-top response to legitimate student journalism should concern all Americans who care about freedom of the press — to say nothing of those from abroad, like Shadrin, who should have had every reason to believe in America’s commitment to press freedom.

Bennett Oakes, a staff writer and reporter for The Guidon, says heavy-hitting articles are nothing new for the paper. In fact, serious journalism on deeply sensitive topics has been a standard throughout the publication’s lengthy history. 

“In 2006,” Oakes said, “there was an article published about a rook-on-rook (freshman) assault on campus, and in 1989, there was an article detailing instances of date rape on campus and a teen suicide.”

“To be able to go back and read The Guidon’s papers in the archives and having them in our newsroom helps you remember why you’re doing this and fighting this battle,” McAuley told FIRE.

Despite the challenges, Drain remains clear-sighted about The Guidon’s goals. 

“We need a written statement protecting The Guidon in perpetuity from any sort of retaliation, censorship, influence, or oversight regarding our ethics, decision-making, and news reporting,” he said.

Drain chose to attend Norwich with hopes of becoming a public affairs officer in the Air Force. He said writing for the student newspaper gives him the opportunity to practice similar work in a military context — seeing a direct link between his work at The Guidon and the cause to which he wants to dedicate his career. 

“Many of us are trying to commission into the United States armed services to defend the Constitution, so we have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution,” he said. “Much of what we are taught includes free speech. For the leadership of the school to not support that, for the leadership to have this sort of hypocrisy, in limiting free speech when it is so guaranteed in our Constitution, I believe is unacceptable.” 

The Guidon’s first article after resuming operations on Dec. 9, which it published the very next day, covers a reported sexual assault on campus — the same sensitive topic that first brought the newspaper under administrative oversight last spring. Despite the potential risks, The Guidon staff view their journalistic mission as imperative to the strength of the Norwich community, and even the U.S. military as a whole. 

“As an enlisted person,” staff writer and reporter Kimeisha Moyston told FIRE, “from firsthand experience, I’ve seen how, within military installations, a lot of things are hidden — because certain names are at risk, certain positions are at risk. As students that this school is training to become leaders and officers, we should be able to set an example and say that’s not ok and that’s not what we want. In our military branch departments, this is emphasized — SHARP, EO, all that stuff — the attitude is, step up and say it. But when it comes to articles such as this being censored by the university, that doesn’t help us in trying to make progress.”

The Guidon is still standing up for its editorial independence, and although it has resumed journalistic operations, its demands for Norwich administrators to protect student press rights aren’t going anywhere.

Drain says, “The Guidon is an organization that we refuse to let die. It has existed for over 100 years, and it will continue to exist for over 100 years. We cannot let the democracy on this campus die.”

At schools like Norwich, policy reform is driven by dedicated students, faculty, and alumni. You can be a part of the movement. Join FIRE’s student network, faculty network, or an independently-organized alumni group working to promote, preserve, and defend freedom of expression at colleges and universities nationwide.