Since starting to write in this paper, readers have described me as a conservative. In a national context, I find this to be a mischaracterization, but within the ranks of The Cornell Daily Sun columnists I am glad to support more right-leaning views in the often-liberal opinion section of the paper. The Cornell Daily Sun drives conversation at Cornell and even though the print version of The Sun is only published once a week, the website gets ten of thousands of views a day and the social media account has over 18,000 followers. The Sun is a prime place to sway change in our community.
And yet — even as The Sunremains an influential source of news and information on all things Cornell — many students, faculty and alums are fed up with the political and cultural content biases that dominate the staff columns; guest columns from both students and professors; and the letters to and from the editor of this storied paper.
If you disagree, scroll down the opinion tab of the website. I guarantee there are far more articles that could be classified as “progressive” or “left-leaning” than not. The paper would greatly benefit from a shift towards the center to represent the comprehensive views of the community, not just those who lean left.
In the month of October alone, six opinion section pieces written by professors have been published that are clearly aligned with the anti-Israel and anti-Cornell administration coalition that has been quite vocal over the past year. Zero articles from professors on the other side of this divisive issue have been published since early May.
This content skew of The Sungives many non-progressives in the Cornell community a strong negative view of the paper and causes them to assume they will dislike or even distrust much or all of the content published, weakening the ability of the newspaper to effectively cover the Cornell community as a whole. I do not believe this ideological sway is a conscious decision among those who run a paper, rather it is a self-selection bias on the part of the applicants due to internal views Cornellians hold about the paper caused by the blatant progressive ideological capture of The Sun’s columns. It's a self-perpetuating problem.
This issue is not confined to the subjective sections of the paper. For weeks, debate raged on campus about the temporary suspension of graduate student Momodou Taal. The main selling point of the pro-Taal crowd was that reporters from The Sunhad alleged, in at least four “objective” news articles, that “Sun reporters on the scene did not witness violence against law enforcement.” This claim was proven irrevocably false with the release of police body cam footage on Oct. 19.
It is inescapable that as an Ivy League student run newspaper in upstate New York, the potential writer, editor and article base is already predisposed to skewing left, but the current distribution of Sun staff is not representative of what I have observed of the political landscape from my first few months at Cornell.
The emails I get in response to my columns tell me I’m courageous for speaking my mind, but I’m just saying what I think — views not that atypical of the Cornell community at large in a bubbled environment that rarely sees my kind of perspective. This only happens when articles that speak out against supporting terrorism and the implausible Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement against Israel, two things that I do not think are unpopular at Cornell, are a stark change from the typical published content.
I know many feel as if their right-wing or centrist political views would not be welcome or treated with disdain within The Sun and therefore refrain from applying after initial interest. By presenting as such a partisan organization, The Sun is preventing itself from having a more intellectually and ideologically diverse staff that would be stronger in many of the essential aspects of creating and producing a widely-read paper. Those who feel this way: send in an application next cycle (this January) — right-leaning perspectives are desperately needed within this organization.
News sources are most effective and influential when they represent all views and sides of the community they report and opine on. Those in charge should work hard to reinvent The Sun as a place where all Cornellians know that their viewpoints and opinions will be accepted, or at the very least heard. I encourage all who want to share their opinions or report the news to apply, regardless of their political or ideological affiliation. Your voice deserves to be heard, and there is an unrealized market for it. I know from experience — both readers and opinion editors crave a diverse perspective in the pages of the Sun.
Noah Farb is a first year student in the College of Arts and Sciences. His fortnightly column Thinking Critically discusses politics and current events. He can be reached at nef36@cornell.edu.
The Cornell Daily Sun is interested in publishing a broad and diverse set of content from the Cornell and greater Ithaca community. We want to hear what you have to say about this topic or any of our pieces. Here are some guidelines on how to submit. And here’s our email: associate-editor@cornellsun.com.
