By: Duncan Campbell ‘20
It has been in publication since Castleton was called the State Normal School. It has gone by different names in its lifetime: The Spartan, The Birdseye, The Cairn. Its flag has featured serif and sans-serif fonts and different designs, while the school’s seal, athletics logo, and a sketch of Woodruff Hall have all at times accompanied its name.
The names have changed along with the name of the school itself; it has told the news of Castleton Teacher’s College, Castleton State College, and now Castleton University.
Its pages have contained black and white photos of students and staff, working hard and playing hard. They feature WIUV program schedules, crossword puzzles and comic strips, classifieds, horoscopes, and menus from Castleton Pizza Palace. Numerous celebrities and politicians have graced the paper with their image – sometimes posing with students –including Geraldine Ferraro, Joey Ramone, Gene Siskel, and Vermont senator and two-time presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.
What started out as a colorless publication has been splashed with 343 green, Castleton’s signature color. The photos on its front and back pages were eventually colored, and in 2017, the pictures on succeeding pages followed suit.
The pages themselves have seen changes as well, starting in the broadsheet format before morphing into a more compact size, and then back to broadsheet.
The articles paint a picture of Castleton’s past and the transformation into its present. They make references to university traditions and hallmark events; Soundings, convocation, and graduation, and address national events like The War on Drugs, Y2K, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. Statements from past University presidents, stories of accomplishment and tragedy, profiles of interesting, unique people and events, the highs and lows of student-athletes, the construction of buildings, and the transition from state college to university are also reported.
The Castleton Spartan has trained students in the art of journalism, and alumni have gone on to write for bigger publications. Some have even returned to keep telling the stories that occur at Castleton University every day.
In 1993, the paper briefly changed its name to The Birdseye, named after nearby Birdseye Mountain, which housed a ski area in the 1960s. A year later, the paper changed its name to The Cairn, which, according to its inaugural issue, was meant to symbolize the paper as a monument and guide for students at then-Castleton State College. The name lasted for 10 years before it was reverted Castleton Spartan once again.
EXPLORE THE CASTLETON SPARTAN ARCHIVES
The technology to produce it evolved as well. Instead of desktop computers and laptops, the words were typed manually on a typewriter in the ‘70s. In the ‘80s, editing was conducted using a Compugraphic machine that was housed in the basement of Woodruff Hall. According to Terri Fassio ‘90, who served as a reporter, typesetter, and editor during her time at Castleton, data was keyed into a screen smaller than most smartphones, and copies were printed on one long column.
Additionally, photographs were manually cut and assembled in layouts page by page in a darkroom. Borders were created with border tape and graphics were either hand-drawn or made with a copier to adjust and reproduce the image.
“It was truly the reality of ‘cut and paste,’” Fassio said.
Then, the school purchased two Mac Plus computers with a nine-inch monochrome display and two floppy discs for the operating system and data, respectively. The pages were designed using Aldus Pagemaker –the precursor to Adobe InDesign.
“I remember coming back from Christmas break, with Macs in front of us, no idea how to use them, and an issue to get out,” Fassio added. “It was trial and error and we learned as we went.”
Although technology has changed, the reporting and editing process has remained the same. Meetings were held every week and the paper always had a strong staff structure to cover various topics, from sports and activities to general news. The paper always encouraged people to contribute, even if they were not a communication major.
Molly DeMellier, a 2014 Castleton alumna who was the managing editor for two years, recalled assigning stories to reporters and coaching novices on interviews and gathering sources. She said she constantly received story ideas from staff, communication students, and in her classes.
“Everybody wrote and everyone was empowered to bring ideas to the meetings and come to the editors and Dave [Blow] at any time if things they thought might be interesting for people to read in The Spartan,” DeMellier said.
After stories were assigned and deadlines were met, she would proofread everything with alongside the Spartan’s advisor, Media and Communication Professor and Castleton alumnus David Blow, the night before publishing.
“I think I probably read every article in that paper a hundred times before it was printed,” DeMellier said.
In the ‘80s, the staff met on Tuesdays during lunch hour at the Campus Center. The Spartan office, which sat in the basement near the mailroom, consisted of two small rooms plus a dark room. The Spartan office has since been relocated to the basement Leavenworth Hall and the staff meets on Wednesdays now. The design process is conducted in the Fine Arts Center.
The stories reported generally covered events on campus, as they do today. The Spartan staff has also had the opportunity to cover significant news. Fassio recalled reporting on the change in drinking age from 18 to 21, Castleton’s bicentennial celebration, the AIDS epidemic, then-Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders making Congressional campaign stops on campus, and iconic speakers like Maya Angelou, Sen. John Lewis, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams visiting Castleton.
“I served as a personal assistant for the day with Maya Angelou to ensure that all her needs while on campus were taken care of. I went to dinner with Bernie Sanders and Sen. John Lewis. I had direct access to faculty so that I could use them as sources for articles. I could go on and on,” Fassio said.
As a feature writer and student-athlete, DeMellier wrote articles on the successes of the women’s basketball team and cultural trends at the time. She remembered writing a story in her sophomore year on people becoming wedding officiants. The Spartan also gave students an outlet to boost and express their creativity. When DeMellier was first joined, she created Letters from the Spartan Spy, a “Gossip Girl”-inspired column where she would anonymously write about the happenings on campus. She added this helped her create a satirical voice in her writing.
Other staff members dabbled in writing other kinds of articles. Terry Badman ‘09 wrote many editorials on topics ranging from important issues of the time to pop culture references including Paris Hilton, Family Guy, and Sarah Palin. He said he liked this experience because it gave him the opportunity to be both quippy and insightful and gained some attention for it.
Castleton Spartan alumni have attributed their experiences with the paper for training them for fulfilling careers. Fassio, who now owns a typesetting, design, and marketing business, serves several print shops and clients across the country. She also writes press releases and develops media kits for various promotional pieces, and has worked with companies including ESPN, the San Diego Padres baseball team, VISA, and Little Caesars Pizza.
“I am using many facets of the skillset I learned from my time at Castleton and the Spartan,” she said.
DeMellier said her time at the Spartan helped her as well. After Castleton, she received a master’s degree from New York University and currently works at an agency called LaunchSquad, where she pitches journalists – so, she must think and understand the way that they operate as writers.
“I have to play journalist in order to get the narrative of my company into stories,” she said.
Badman added that his time writing not only helped him in his career but also in life. He explained that journalism forced him to open up and helped to develop his communication and public speaking skills.
“Working for the Spartan helped me get a little more comfortable in my own skin, which then allowed me to pursue other opportunities,” he said.