THE INDEPENDENT

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Indigenous People's Day 2025 Indigenous People's Day 2025

Wednesday, November 12, 2025 | Written by Mya Simon, Photographed by M'iitra Pino

Indigenous People's Day 2025

October rain does little to keep FLC from celebrating Indigenous culture 

Banging Heads in Buckley Park Banging Heads in Buckley Park

Thursday, October 2, 2025 | Mya Simon and Garrett Middleton

Banging Heads in Buckley Park

Locals share an inside look into Durango's metal scene. 


Safety First, Because Accidents Last
Safety First, Because Accidents Last

Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Nels Christensen

Safety First, Because Accidents Last

Fort Lewis police report safety statistics in recent years. 

Hotels: the new Dorms?
Hotels: the new Dorms?

Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Jimena Lopez

Hotels: the new Dorms?

Back to school! While some Fort Lewis students were making sure they had their backpacks ready to go, others were making sure they had somewhere...
59th Annual Hozhoni Days Powwow
59th Annual Hozhoni Days Powwow

Friday, May 2, 2025
Written by Junior Parrish, Photographed by Donovan Riley and Junior Parrish

59th Annual Hozhoni Days Powwow

An event that brings joy and beauty, Hozhoni Ambassadors and First Attendant said.
Students Test the Waters
Students Test the Waters

Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Nels Christensen

Students Test the Waters

Students take leaps for public health.


All News

Vibrant Voices

Kiiyahno Edgewater

The past, present and future of representing diversity on campus.

Nearly half of Fort Lewis Colleges’s student population is Native American and Alaska Native, and students of color make up 59%. With such a large percentage of students with diverse voices from all corners of the world, how does FLC manage to represent every unique voice while maintaining all else?  Vice president of Diversity Affairs, Heather Shotton, came to FLC because of the...

The Hidden Cost

Story by: Matthew Claeson and Zara Tucker

Investigating Meal Swipes and the New Food Provider at Fort Lewis College

Fort Lewis College announced on Apr. 9 that Fresh Ideas will be taking over Fort Lewis College’s food service and dining contract, a place that has been filled by Sodexo for the past 15 years. This article takes a look into Sodexo’s food service system for students.  Skycards and Meal Swipes When it comes to skycards here at Fort Lewis College, they are a student’s...

The Coming Storm

Scout Edmondson

Lessons learned from the ‘22/‘23 winter and what could come with the looming El NiƱo.

  At the end of the 2023 winter, the San Juan Mountains, just north of Durango saw a record-breaking snowpack.  According to the National Resource Conservation Service, a branch of the US Department of Agriculture that tracks historical snowpack data, the snowpack in The San Juans topped out at 31.5 inches of snow-water equivalent (SWE) in mid-April. Purgatory Ski Resort,...

Crying Wolf

Scout Edmondson

Colorado's wolf reintroduction has become so emotional, so political, that it's no longer even about the wolves. 

Cover photo courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Wolf 2306-OR runs into the wild after being released by CPW on Dec.19, 2023.  Grand County is a land of wide open skies, snowy mountains that hunch against the biting wind blowing off the plains of Wyoming, and miles and miles of prairie, pine forests and meandering trout streams. It’s home to the headwaters of the Colorado...

A New School is Coming to Fort Lewis College

Julian Zastrocky

Mountain Middle School capitalizes on the "empty" space behind Animas High School.

Fort Lewis College approved Mountain Middle School's request to build a new building next to the recently built Animas High School location. It approved a 420 million dollar budget to help with the building process.  Tom Stritikus, president of Fort Lewis College, is slated to release an email tomorrow announcing the decision formally to the student population. “We are so...

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