The Cornell Daily Sun is an independent newspaper at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is published twice weekly by Cornell University students and hired employees. Founded in 1880, The Sun is the oldest continuously independent college daily in the United States.
The Sun features coverage of the university and its environs. It prints on Wednesdays when the university is open for academic instruction. In addition to these regular issues, The Sun publishes a graduation issue, reunion issue, and a freshman issue, which is mailed to incoming Cornell freshmen before their first semester. The paper is free on campus and online. The Sun edits under its proprietary "Sun Style Guide," an amended version of AP Style.
Aside from a few full-time production positions, The Sun is staffed by Cornell students and is fully independent of the university. It operates out of its own building in downtown Ithaca. As of 2023, The Sun is ranked the third-best college student newspaper in the nation, behind Yale and Syracuse, according to College Choice's annual rankings.
History
19th century
The Cornell Daily Sun was founded in 1880 by William Ballard Hoyt to challenge Cornell's original and leading publication, the weekly Cornell Era, which was founded in 1868. In the newspaper's first edition, published on September 16, 1880, The Sun boasted in its opening paragraph: "We have no indulgence to ask, no favors to beg."
20th century
The newspaper later incorporated and changed to daily frequency, earning its longstanding boast "Ithaca's Only Morning Newspaper." In 1912, it added a second, "first collegiate member of the Associated Press."
Following the shift of its main competitor, The Ithaca Journal, from evening to morning daily publication in 1996, The Sun changed its traditional front page slogan which, after several iterations, now states "Independent Since 1880." This period also marked a shift in The Sun's content from national to local and university-related stories.
21st century
The newspaper's common features include "Around the Sun," a weekly multimedia recap series, and a sex column that appears weekly on Thursdays.
In January 2003, the Cornell Daily Sun Alumni Association purchased the former Elks Lodge in downtown Ithaca, erected 1916. Led by Stanley Chess, the founding president of the Association, John Schroeder '74, and Gary L. Rubin '72, the alumni completely renovated the building over the next several months. Now called the Cornell Daily Sun Building, it has housed the paper's offices since June 2003 and is coincidentally located next door to The Ithaca Journal's offices. The building also houses a kava bar in its basement.
In the fall semester of 2004, The Sun turned free and started featuring full-color front and back pages as part of a redesign in its layout. These moves were partially effected to boost circulation in response to Cornell's Student Assembly's decision to provide The New York Times and USA Today on campus for free to all undergraduate Cornell students.
On September 17, 2005, more than 370 Sun alumni and guests gathered in Manhattan to celebrate The Sun's 125th anniversary. Speakers included Kurt Vonnegut '43, Carl Leubsdorf '59, Sam Roberts '68, Jay Branegan '73, Howard A. Rodman '71, S. Miller Harris '44, and Jeremy Schaap '91. The emcee was Stan Chess '69. A 130th anniversary dinner was held on September 25, 2010.
In 2016, the newspaper announced that it was reducing its publication rate from five days a week to three. In 2020, it further cut back to twice a week as a cost-reducing measure. At the beginning of the 2024-2025 academic year, the paper further reduced publication to once per week, with 24/7 publishing online.
The Cornell Daily Sun Alumni Association, comprising former editors, managers, and staff of the Cornell Daily Sun, exists to further journalism by Cornell University students.
Alumni
The Cornell Daily Sun claims over a dozen Pulitzer Prize winners and boasts a number of prominent alumni, including:
Tom Allon, publisher and co-owner, City & State
Stephen Asprinio, food and wine columnist; restaurateur, sommelier, chef, and former Top Chef contestant
Jim Axelrod, sports journalist; chief investigative journalist, CBS News
Whitney Balliett, film critic; book reviewer and jazz critic, The New Yorker
Victor Berlin, Business Board; information security expert and founder, University of the Potomac and University of Fairfax
Neil Best, sports journalist, Newsday
Keri Blakinger, copy editor; criminal justice author and journalist, The Marshall Project
Jay Branegan, senior editor (1971–72); 1976 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with the Chicago Tribune
Dick Brass, associate editor (1971–72); technology investor, executive, and pioneer who developed first electronic dictionary and thesaurus, ClearType, and Open eBook
Gordon G. Chang, editorial board; lawyer, author, and television pundit
S. E. Cupp, arts and entertainment editor; CNN host, political commentator, and author
Allison Danzig, author and sportswriter, The New York Times
Charles Divine, news editor; poet and playwright
Edward D. Eddy, editor-in-chief (1943–44); president, Chatham College and University of Rhode Island
Bob Filner, Business Board; former mayor of San Diego and U.S. Congressman
Rob Fishman, columnist; entrepreneur and writer
David Folkenflik, editor-in-chief (1990–91); NPR media correspondent
Frank Gannett, Sun Board; media mogul and founder, Gannett
Jeffrey Gettleman, photographer; 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and East Africa Bureau Chief, The New York Times
Joey Green, political cartoonist; former contributing editor, National Lampoon, author of over 60 books
Daniel Gross, News Board; financial and economic journalist and executive editor, strategy+business magazine
Lewis Henry, editor-in-chief (1908–09); former U.S. Congressman
Marvin Josephson, managing editor (1948–49); founder, chair, and CEO, ICM Partners
Lawrence Kasanoff, business manager; film and television producer, co-founder of Lightstorm Entertainment and Threshold Entertainment with James Cameron
Neeraj Khemlani, editor-in-chief (1991–92); former president, CBS News and CBS News and Stations
Andrew Kopkind, editor-in-chief (1956–57); journalist, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and others
Marc Lacey, editor-in-chief (1986–87); managing editor, The New York Times and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner at the Los Angeles Times
Carl Leubsdorf, associate editor (1958–59); Washington columnist, The Dallas Morning News
Harold O. Levy, columnist; former New York City Schools Chancellor and former executive director, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
Eric Lichtblau, news reporter; Washington bureau reporter, The New York Times and 2006 Pulitzer Prize recipient
Stuart Loory, editor-in-chief (1953–54); academic and managing editor, Chicago Sun-Times
Farhad Manjoo, editor-in-chief (1999–2000); author and technology journalist and opinion writer, The New York Times
Joseph Masci, supplement editor; physician, educator, and author
Will Maslow, associate editor; lawyer and civil rights leader
Oscar G. Mayer Jr., business manager (1933–34); former chairman, Oscar Mayer
James C. McKinley Jr., journalist, The New York Times
Anne Morrissy Merick, sports editor; Vietnam War journalist
Philip Merrill, managing editor (1954–55); diplomat, banker, and philanthropist and Export-Import Bank of the United States chairman
Andrew Morse, editor-in-chief (1995–96); former executive vice president, CNN
Svante Myrick, editorial board; former mayor of Ithaca, New York
George Jean Nathan, editorial board; drama critic, editor, and co-founder, The American Mercury
Scot J. Paltrow, News Board; financial journalist