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Middlebury Campus

Back to Middlebury History Online

Having grown accustomed to a journalistic outlet for their opinions for more than a quarter of a century, Middlebury students revived the newspaper, redubbed The Middlebury Campus in 1905. This time the newspaper, first as a monthly, then as a weekly published throughout the academic year, endured, expressing the full range of student views on social, cultural, and political issues for more than a century.

Student newspapers are an incredibly rich primary source for researching the history of Middlebury College, providing invaluable insight into the evolution of student opinion, conservative and liberal, on local, domestic, and international issues beginning with student pressure for coeducation in the 1870s and on to 20th century student response to war, the role of fraternities and athletics, racism and civil rights, sexism and sexual assault, women’s and gay rights, alcohol and drug abuse, and so much more. What emerges from the thousands of digitized pages of the these journals over a century and a half is an understanding of how the forces for change, the transformation of Middlebury College from a small, relatively obscure Vermont college in the 19th century, into one of the leading liberal arts colleges in the 20th century United States, was largely student-driven.