August 25, 2013

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Drop Us a Line

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As students arrive on campus to reconnect with friends and familiar faces — or, for some, to start anew — our first priority at The Sun is to reconnect with our readership. This semester, we will be keeping the lines of communication more open than ever before. Drop us a line and you can expect us to answer questions and address feedback to the best of our ability. We have dramatically expanded our presence on social media, approaching nearly 10,000 followers on Twitter. If you tuned in this summer, thanks for the follow. If not, you can find us at @cornellsun.

This semester, look out for new features that will allow our readers to establish direct contact with Sun editors. You can now find news writers’ contact information at the end of their articles on the web, so feel free to reach out and engage them in conversation about their work. Additionally, our opinion section will be launching new series that will not only connect readers to The Sun, but to one another. Through face-off columns on divisive issues and a Q&A platform for students to send in burning inquiries about all things Cornell, we hope to include even more Cornellians in the campus discourse.

We will continue to hold Daily Sun Dialogues this semester, bringing sources and readers face-to-face to debate the issues most relevant to our campus today. Our Live Ops panels, a video series that brings students together for roundtable discussions on various topics, will expand to new sections. In general, expect the number of videos available on our website to continue rising.

With the release of The Princeton Review’s 2013 college rankings, The Sun was recently honored with the shiny title of #1 U.S. college newspaper. We have, naturally, engaged in the obligatory self-laudatory back-patting the award requires. But we also, certainly, are not taking it as an indication that we have reached some zenith of success. (And not because the media blogs’ critique of the ranking methodology harshed our mellow. We swear…) If anything, we are more inspired to raise the bar and push The Sun to uphold the high standards our Cornell audience expects and deserves. But we need help to do it.

If you find you’re not content merely absorbing The Sun as a consumer, you should come and see what we’re all about. Attend an information session this week; freshmen and upperclassmen alike are welcome. No matter your talents, we are sure to have a place for you to explore and enhance them. The Sun is the sum of its parts, and what we accomplish over the ensuing months and years entirely depends upon the skills our future staff will bring to the table.

— R.L.H.