The Cornell Daily Sun is an independent daily newspaper published in Ithaca, New York by students at Cornell University and hired employees.
The Sun features coverage of the university and its environs as well as stories from the Associated Press and UWIRE. It prints on weekdays when the university is open for academic instruction as a tabloid-sized daily. In addition to these regular issues, The Sun publishes a graduation 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 is staffed entirely by Cornell students, aside from a few full-time production and business positions, and is fully independent of the university. It operates out of its own building in downtown Ithaca. The Sun is currently the number one college newspaper in the United States, according to The Princeton Review.
The Cornell Sun was founded in 1880 by William Ballard Hoyt to challenge Cornell's original and leading publication, the weekly Cornell Era (founded 1868).
The Sun boasted in its opening paragraph: "We have no indulgence to ask, no favors to beg." The paper 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."
Throughout its history, the publication has faced competition from The Cornell Review and the Ithaca Journal in the market for Cornell news and analysis.
Common features include "Cornell's 161 Faces," which highlights a diverse group of Cornell students and a Sex Column that appears every Thursday.
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.
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.
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, S. Miller Harris '44, and Jeremy Schaap '91. The emcee was Stan Chess '69. A 130th anniversary dinner was held on September 25, 2010.
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.
The Sun claims at least nine Pulitzer Prize winners and boasts a number of other prominent alumni, including:
Tom Allon, Sports Editor – publisher; Manhattan Media owner
Stephen Asprinio, Food & Wine Columnist – restaurateur, sommelier, chef, and former Top Chef contestant
Jim Axelrod, Sports Department – CBS News national correspondent and reporter
Whitney Balliett, Film Critic - New Yorker jazz critic
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; developed first electronic dictionary and thesaurus; responsible for development of ClearType and Open eBook
Gordon G. Chang, Editorial Board – lawyer, author, and television pundit
Stanley Chess, Editor-in-Chief (1968–69) – legal commentator and former bar review course executive
S. E. Cupp, Arts & Entertainment Editor – political commentator and author
Allison Danzig – The New York Times sportswriter (1923–1968); author
Charles Divine – poet and playwright
Edward D. Eddy, Editor-in-Chief (1943–44) – president of Chatham College and the University of Rhode Island
Bob Filner, Business Board – Mayor of San Diego; former Congressman
Rob Fishman, Columnist - entrepreneur and writer
David Folkenflik, Editor-in-Chief (1990–91) – NPR reporter
Frank E. Gannett – media mogul and founder of the Gannett Company, Inc.
Jeffrey Gettleman, Photographer – 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; The New York Times East Africa Bureau Chief
Davidson Goldin, Editor-in-Chief (1992-1993); PR firm owner, formerly: MSNBC executive, NY1 anchor, New York Times contributor
Joey Green, Political Cartoonist – humor author known as "The Pantry Professor"
John Hassell, Managing Editor (1990–91) – 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with The Star-Ledger
Lewis Henry, Editor-in-Chief (1908–09) – U.S. Congressman from New York
Robert Kessler, Editor-in-Chief (1964–65) – 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with Newsday
Andrew Kopkind, Editor-in-Chief (1956–57) – noted journalist with Washington Post, The New Republic, and others
Marc Lacey, Editor-in-Chief (1986–87) – The New York Times deputy foreign editor; 1993 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with The Los Angeles Times
Carl P. Leubsdorf, Associate Editor (1958–59) – The Dallas Morning News columnist; political journalist
Eric Lichtblau, News Reporter – 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; The New York Times Washington bureau reporter
Stuart Loory, Editor-in-Chief (1953–54) – journalist and academic; Chicago Sun-Times managing editor
Farhad Manjoo, Editor-in-Chief (1999–00) – journalist and author; New York Times technology writer
Oscar G. Mayer, Jr., Business Manager (1933–34) – executive of the Oscar Mayer meat company
Philip Merrill, Managing Editor (1954–55) – diplomat, banker, and philanthropist; Export-Import Bank of the United States chairman
Phil Mazo, Cartoonist – stand-up comedian
Svante Myrick, Editorial Board – Mayor of Ithaca, New York
George Jean Nathan, Editorial Board – drama critic and editor, The American Mercury co-founder and editor
Scot J. Paltrow – financial journalist
Jon Ralston, Sports Department – American journalist, political commentator, and talk show host
Henry S. Reuss, Editor-in-Chief (1932–33) – U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin
Sam Roberts, Managing Editor (1967–68) – The New York Times columnist, reporter, and editor; inaugural author of the "Metro Matters" column; author; biographer of David Greenglass and Nelson Rockefeller
Howard A. Rodman, Editor-in-Chief (1970–71) – screenwriter and professor
Wallace A. Ross, News Board – advertising executive and founder of the Clio Awards
Kirkpatrick Sale, Editor-in-Chief (1957–58) – environmental and technology scholar and author; leader of secessionist movement
Dick Schaap, Editor-in-Chief (1954–55) – noted sports writer and broadcaster
Jeremy Schaap, Sports Editor (1990–91) – ESPN contributor and son of Dick Schaap
Danny Schechter – television producer, filmmaker, and media critic
Alan Sisitsky - Massachusetts House of Representatives member and Massachusetts Senate Judiciary Committee chairman
Deborah Solomon – The New York Times magazine columnist; art critic; biographer
Barry S. Strauss, Feature Editor (1973–74) – professor of history and classics at Cornell University; ancient military history author and expert
Elmer E. Studley, Editorial Board – U.S. Congressman from New York
Jacob Sullum – syndicated newspaper columnist
Elbert Tuttle, Editor-in-Chief (1917–18) – Chief Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; member of Fifth Circuit Four
Kurt Vonnegut, Associate Editor (1942–43) – novelist and satirist
E. B. White, Editor-in-Chief (1920–21) – columnist and author; 1978 Pulitzer Prize special award
Ed Zuckerman, Editor-in-Chief (1969–70) – Emmy Award-winning producer and writer for Law & Order, as well as episodes of Miami Vice, Star Trek: The Next Generation, JAG, and others