Now an independent non-profit, the Old School Catalyst aims to pick up where the New College Catalyst left off.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: April 2, 2025
Host: This Friday—more than two years since the small liberal arts college in Sarasota was taken over by the state government, and after 16 months of planning and preparing—the independent version of the New College student newspaper is ready to launch. We talked to the editor-in-chief of the Old School Catalyst to get the scoop.
Johannes Werner: Isaac Tellechea graduated from New College last winter, but he keeps living and breathing New College day in, day out. He began to be part of the project to take the student newspaper off-campus in December 2023. He eventually became its editor-in-chief, and now he says the Old School Catalyst will launch this Friday.
The New College Catalyst appears to have been quietly discontinued.
A crew of eight—made up of students, alumni, and retired faculty member Maria Vesperi—is at the core of the undertaking to resurrect an independent version of the Catalyst, the printed campus monthly that now seems to be defunct. No new articles have been published on the New College Catalyst’s website since May last year.
What took them so long?
Tellechea, the editor of the Old School Catalyst graduated in the middle of the planning process. He says he has been working with Maria Vesperi, a retired anthropology professor, overcoming logistical issues —fundraising, getting legal help, to mention just a few.
Isaac Tellechea
Isaac Tellechea: Her and I, alongside many others, have been working on this for a great deal of time now. It’s my full-time job, editing and being the president of operations while we incorporated, while we got legal counsel, while we started our fundraising—all that kind of stuff.
JW: The Old School Catalyst news crew works off-campus, mostly remotely. The SEE Alliance, a local young-people movement, is the fiscal sponsor of their nonprofit status, and they provided space, too.
Startup funding of $25,000—including an anonymous donation of $20,000, and $5,000 from the Novo Collegian Alliance and Save New College—have made it possible to pay the editor and contributors.
The name of the online newspaper reflects previous warnings by New College to an outside organization that it will take legal steps against the use of its name as well as nostalgia for a college that seems to be gone.
The Old School Catalyst will launch with an interview of an investigative reporter who covered the New College takeover for Vanity Fair magazine, with a first-hand account by a New College Chinese major whose efforts to learn the language in China have been colliding with New College administrators and a Florida law and with an update on the Uplands neighborhood which has been affected by New College tree cutting and construction plans.
Tellechea says the initial intent is to cover local campus news. He also emphasizes the educational function.
IT: The hope is to expand past just New College in the not-so-distant future. Our vision for the publication is to welcome students from any background and young people who are interested in the principles of journalism and learning how to report ethical and effective news.
JW: How does he define success?
IT: What I would really like to see is an organization that, first of all, is still around, and second of all, that we are still providing the resources and the people to show young people how to report news ethically and effectively.
JW: For more information, go to oldschoolcatalyst.com.
Reporting for WSLR News, Johannes Werner.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.