By INDRAYUDH SINHA

“The Cornell Daily Sun” is among America’s oldest-running student newspapers. It was founded in 1880 (The Dartmouth being the oldest, founded in 1799, and the Round Table in 1853), standing against “The Cornell Era,” another of Cornell’s student publications, and eventually outliving it. What worked towards sustaining the paper is debatable, one might just be their quality of journalism and penmanship, defying pressure to report unabashedly on the racial tensions of the ’60s, and Black students protesting on campus. While also just having terrific scribal ammo in their pack, with students like Kurt Vonnegut of the 1944 class, who later went on to become one of America’s best novelists, writing classics like “Slaughterhouse Five” and “Breakfast of Champions.” The other part of their sustenance might’ve been their adaptation of advertising, something which student newspapers have conventionally shied away from.

It’s 2024, The Cornell Daily Sun has once again proven to be astute and reliable, being one of the first outlets to cover and be in support of the strike by campus food workers, demanding better wages. 

This has been a year of boom and bust for student papers. “The Stanford Daily” caused a storm with students like Theo Baker, who won the George Polk award for publishing about the scientific fraud and lack of replicability in published research of the University’s now former president Marc-Tessier Lavigne. While Baker has been, what I deem aptly, criticized for nepotistic endorsements by his veteran journalist parents, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that a student newspaper can do so much more to sustain integrity on campus, and in wider academia. 

Indiana University recently announced the elimination of its student newspaper, “The Indiana Daily,” printed issues. University administration, according to reports, didn’t consult student members, editors, or faculty to come to the decision. It was entirely abrupt.
“The Indiana Daily” had won multiple awards for student journalism. In June of this year, the paper won the Corbyn Gwaltney Award for Best All-Around student newspaper, and individual student journalists have won several awards themselves. The print issues of the Daily had cost the University around $300,000 annually. Their distribution wasn’t limited to the campus but also distributed around the city of Bloomington for free. University administration informed the campus about the elimination of the paper’s print issues through a press release, in which they also informed that the Provost’s office of the university had given close to $1 million to the paper to “financially restructure” themselves, even though their print issues were eliminated.
There are only so many ways a student paper can survive. Older issues of the Round Table (in picture, one from 1960) have had advertising as a way to fund themselves. Current issues of the Round Table have no advertising and are dependent on funding from the College and donations. 

The Round Table has limited circulation, entirely within the campus, so staff and editors must figure out a way to reach beyond. The paper’s Copy Editor, Ella Silva’26, has written previously on the slow but conspicuous demise of print newspapers, and Ruby Baudhin’27, a fellow writer, has written on the general fund crunch when it comes to student organizations on campus, including the Round Table. 

The Round Table’s website is very recent and a potential conduit to survive after dying in print. It must strive to utilize the very best that being virtual has to offer. When student newspapers go virtual they must keep in mind that an online newspaper must not, even remotely, resemble other online platforms like Instagram accounts, which offer short scoops, gossip, and generally comical opinions from around campus. In the virtual world, there’s a very thin line between those two. But newspapers can be much more distinct in their form and identity by being editorially strict and demanding. Editors and staff writers must hunt down matters of pertinence and be elaborate and articulate about them. For a student newspaper to survive, it often must be exclusionary. 

Lastly, to cater to readers off campus whether in print or online, the Round Table must commit more to its news section and offer economical, well-structured, and articulate summarisation or opinion about stories that matter. The paper’s recent investigation regarding Sigma Chi, a campus fraternity, written by Ezekiel Kingsbury’25, Eric Seo’25, Emma Laus’27, Ella Silva’26, and Lio Kammueller’26 shot up readership for the particular print issue it was published in. On a campus, hand-to-hand transmission of printed papers is much more quick and efficient than virtual links. The Round Table has an opportunity, like most other student newspapers, to restructure itself and consider catering to a wider readership.

While one might not be able to postpone or oversee the demise of a paper, it certainly will make a difference for the paper to make sure it does the most it can do during its lifetime.