The encampment on Columbia’s campus started in the final weeks of school, and while all of us in the Journalism School had just spent months learning journalism’s best practices, none of us expected a story so consequential to happen on our doorstep. For many of us who covered the protests, it was our first time reporting a major news story. 

We began sleeping in the journalism school, afraid of losing access to campus as classes became remote and the security presence on campus grew. With the support of our professors, we set up makeshift newsrooms in classrooms and study spaces. External hard drives, portable chargers, and recording equipment were scattered everywhere. We printed homemade press badges and taped them to our backs and wrote important phone numbers on our arms in black Sharpie.

Faculty rallied around us. They gave us advice on how to stay safe while we covered the protests, passed along press opportunities, and negotiated access to campus on our behalf.

Access was a constant unknown. Sometimes our IDs would suddenly stop working, and we’d have to prop open the doors between stairwells and classroom hallways with trash cans to ensure we wouldn’t lose access to our newsrooms. Our school ultimately set up a communal newsroom space on the ground floor for us, complete with snacks and supplies.

While we want to be clear that we are not the story, we would be remiss not to honor the hard work and dedication of our peers and faculty who labored so tirelessly to document this story as it unfolded and support us in our work.