Editor’s Note: 4/20 content is a part of The Sun’s joke issue and contains exaggerated and factually inaccurate information.
At a certain point, institutions must recognize when they have outgrown their origins. The Sun has reached that point.
As a Cornell alum and former Sun staff writer, I have watched this paper grow from merely a campus publication to an institution that prides itself on its reach, relevance and obsessive commitment to covering everything that ‘matters.’ It is exactly that sentiment that compels me to raise a difficult, yet necessary, point.
The Sun has simply outgrown Cornell.
This realization comes not just from concern over the paper’s growth, but also from its reception. For all that The Sun gives, it is often under appreciated within the very community it aims to serve. Its reporting is quickly consumed and forgotten just as fast, its labor taken for granted and its presence treated as a given rather than a privilege. To the Editorial Board, I ask you: At what point do you say you’ve had enough?
What once felt like an environment fostering immense editorial prowess has, over time, become increasingly finite. How many times can you reframe the same cookie-cutter administrative statements? There are only so many campus controversies that can sustain an audience, and only so many dining hall reviews that can be published under the guise of investigative journalism. At some point, the continued focus on Cornell begins to feel less like journalism and more like a continued hindrance to The Sun’s potential.
Meanwhile, across town, there lies the possibility of so much more: Ithaca College. And, more importantly, it already has its own publication, The Ithacan. Rather than viewing them as the enemy, I propose an opportunity for bigger and better things.
From a business standpoint, the benefits are obvious. A merger would consolidate two of Ithaca’s most prominent student-run papers into a single, unified publication with unmatched reach. It would foster resource sharing, expanded coverage and a readership that would finally reflect the scope of Ithaca.
It may also introduce The Sun to an audience that doesn’t take it for granted.
Of course, I expect this proposal to raise concerns. Questions of identity and editorial voice are not insignificant, but I would argue that this paper’s legacy is not defined by where it reports, but how it reports. If anything, a merger would strengthen that legacy.
This is not an abandonment; it is the rising of a new dawn.
If Cornell is no longer able to keep up, it may be time to find a campus that will.
Brett “Gator” Sterling Jr. ’69 is an alumnus of the Donald J. Trump School of Business Excellence in Business. He can be reached at g8tor67@gmail.com.
4/20 content is a part of The Sun’s joke issue and contains exaggerated and factually inaccurate information.
