Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ

In his column, Paul Danish details the history of the Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ Daily, which for 61 years was Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ's official student newspaper. It's now published by the Boulder Daily Camera. 

The Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ Daily, which for 61 years was Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ’s official student newspaper, is today published by the Boulder Daily Camera. It’s still distributed on campus, but it’s no longer a student newspaper.

What happened?

It’s complicated. And, to me, sad.

From 1892 to 1953, Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ’s student newspaper was called The Silver & Gold. In 1953, the name changed to Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ Daily, reflecting a new five-day publishing schedule.

But the Daily was still Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ’s official student newspaper: Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ sponsored it, students wrote and edited it, non-students couldn’t be on the staff. (Neither could students with a GPA under 2.0.)

At first, the Daily wasn’t much different from the S&G.

But in the late ’50s the editors grew feistier and more focused on off-campus political issues. And a lot more liberal.

Make that radical.

Crises and drama ensued.

For me, the Daily was life-changing

By 1970, the Daily’s staffers wanted out from under Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ’s thumb. The Regents, weary of catching flak for the paper, agreed.

So, a divorce was arranged. By mutual agreement, Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ no longer recognized the Daily as its student paper and quit subsidizing it. The paper incorporated as a nonprofit and moved off campus.

Then something unexpected happened. The Daily not only stopped being the official student paper; it also stopped being a student-edited paper. The emancipated paper’s incumbent student staff never developed a process for transferring power to a new student staff. They couldn’t let go.

So, the Daily evolved from a newspaper produced by Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ students for Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ students to a paper produced by Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ alumni (mostly) for Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ students.

Toward the end of the ’90s, the Daily, by then employee-owned, hired an accountant who turned out to be crooked. Accused of taking more than $250,000, he ultimately pleaded guilty to a related criminal charge.

Partly as a result, the Daily declared bankruptcy and, in early 2001, sold itself to Randy Miller, a veteran of both the editorial and business sides of newspapering, for $2.3 million.

Miller returned the paper to profitability, and, 4.5 years later, sold it to the Camera.

The Camera’s incarnation of the Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ Daily genuinely tries to appeal to Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ students and Millennials. But newspapers should be dangerous things, and by the Daily’s historic standards, it’s harmless. I still get a little ache in my heart when I pick it up.

For me, and I suspect for many former Daily student staffers, being on staff during the ’60s was a life-changing experience. I didn’t do anything remotely as exciting and satisfying until a decade later.

Don’t get me wrong. The post-1970 Daily staffers produced some terrific journalism. I just think it’s sad they couldn’t find a way to share that experience with future generations of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ students.

Still, I like to think today’s Daily isn’t the late-night final. It’s a newspaper. So long as it lives, there’s always another edition.

Paul Danish (Hist’65) is a Coloradan columnist.

Photo from the 1969 Coloradan yearbook.