“To tolerate all opinions when reason is left free to combat them”. Sourced from Thomas Jefferson’s inaugural address in 1801 and later adopted into Norwich University’s Mission Statement, this one quote is evocative of everything that this institution stands for. Principles like citizen soldiery and experiential learning are absolutely critical to the identity and personality of Norwich, but they simply cannot exist without a strong and safe environment for the free exchange of ideas to preserve and protect diverse perspectives. And in our modern digital age, it goes without saying that there are a lot more ways to access those same kinds of “exchanges of ideas” and “diverse perspectives”.
As most of us as students are well aware, Norwich University always has something going on—either on campus or beyond. Another thing that most students can attest to though is that there are just as many ways to get your news around campus. There’s your typical sources that could be found at most colleges: a student activities board, a daily announcements email blast, a student-run newspaper; all effective means of communication that would keep any campus community well-informed. However, at the risk of sounding like a corny college admissions tagline—Norwich isn’t just “any” campus community. The two different lifestyles alone set this school apart from most, if not all, others. And with that unique trait comes vastly distinct social scenes and communications between students and staff alike.
Starting off with what a majority of students would call their most utilized news source on campus, the app YikYak is an incredibly popular source of information when it comes to hearing about the more underground life at Norwich. Simply put, YikYak is an anonymous thread-based app akin to Reddit and other online discussion boards—with the main gimmick being that users can only view messages sent within a 5-mile radius.
“I’ve used YikYak since my freshman year, and I think it’s generally been a positive thing here [at Norwich]”, said Aidan Keller, a Cybersecurity major from the Class of 2026. “Usually, I see funny posts about corps shenanigans, complaints about Vermont weather, and sometimes it’s how I find out about some campus events”.
However, YikYak has faced plenty of controversy since its launch in 2013. To put it simply, and to quote another newspaper—TechCrunch, an online news outlet focusing on the world of digital technology— “any forum offering users anonymity and a means of chatting would have the potential to be plagued by cyberbullies”.
“The one big issue that I’ve seen in a good number of posts comes from people who just want to throw shade at each other or make fun of embarrassing things that have happened to people—and more often than not, it’s generally going too far”, stated Keller. The app has been banned from the Norwich University networks since September of 2014, although plenty of students still use it with their own cellular data.
Another pretty unique source of information here on campus is social media. Ok, well—social media is far from unique nowadays. More specifically, there are several different Norwich-specific non club-related Instagram accounts like “barstool_norwich” and “norwich.jackass”. Although most of them are unfortunately inactive since most of their owners were from the Class of ‘25, meaning they’ve since graduated and stopped running their accounts, there are a few of them that are still active and posting—chief among them (excuse the pun) being the “nucc_charliechiefs”, the official account of Charlie Company, one of the upperclassmen companies in the Corps of Cadets.
All companies on the Hill have their own Instagram accounts, but Charlie’s online presence extends beyond social media. The company has had an internal newsletter called The Smoke Signal—complete with its own website and editorial staff. Primarily, The Smoke Signal acts as a means to provide cadets in Charlie Company with a one-stop shop of relevant news ranging from Corps of Cadets announcements to other company-specific activities. The Guidon reached out to the current Chief Editor Tommy Morgan, Class of 2026, but he was unavailable for comment.
Moving into the more traditional means of reporting, Norwich University has had a student newspaper since 1860—albeit one that’s gone through two key iterations. From its inception, the paper was called The Norwich Reville until, in 1922, it was rebranded into The Norwich Guidon—the name it has today. However, the previous namesake was recently revived in September of 2025 as “a reimagined media hub where tradition meets technology, and the Norwich story is told by the people living it”, according to the announcement Facebook post on the official Norwich University account.
As was just described, this modern iteration of The Reveille advertises itself as a primarily a news hub of all things Norwich. “The idea was to have a virtual presence where people could generate their own content, as well as having the Marketing and Communications Office be able to vet stories about Norwich that were coming off of social media”, said Global Humanities Department chair Amy Woodbury-Tease, who also operates in other roles such as Associate Dean for the College of Liberal Arts and as the acting Associate Provost for Academic Affairs.
“In the role [of acting associate provost], I’ve been serving as a liaison between the provost’s office and the Marketing Communications office, which includes talking about how best to share the exciting contributions of our students, staff, and faculty via the different media channels that we have—and The Reveille is one of them”, said Woodbury-Tease.
Although The Reveille is strictly run and moderated by Norwich faculty, a big part of it is student submissions. Juan Elenes, Class of ‘27, wrote an essay for The Reveille at the beginning of this past school in October 2025—a piece about his experience at Norwich’s Future Leader Camp (FLC) titled “Finding My Path“.
“Scott Wills, the director of admissions, had reached out to me about writing about my experience with FLC and all that” said Elenes. “He handled all of the middle work in getting my essay to The Reveille publishers”.
Student voices are absolutely vital for the wellbeing and function of a campus community, as the heart and soul of every good collegiate institution lies in the student body allowing the system to thrive in the first place. The communication between the students and the school officials should be unequivocally transparent where it can be. Accountability is essential for any form of democracy to thrive, and should be upheld whenever and wherever possible.
