Cornellians have a thing for pretentious names. We call our midterms “prelims,” our hills “slopes,” and our everything bagels “Long Island.” When it comes to stupid names, we at The Cornell Daily Sun are no better — and I’m not just talking about those times when design editor Emma Williams ’19 would sarcastically call me “Supreme Leader” in her emails. No, the pretentious name to which we are most attached is “compet.”
What is compet? The exact etymology is, like too much at Cornell, shrouded in mystery, but if you look closely, you’ll notice it bears a striking resemblance to the word “compete” with the second “e” lopped off. Coincidentally, compet is the time during which staffers at The Sun compete against each other for editorships.
Starting today, the 136th Editorial Board of The Cornell Daily Sun will be taking a step back, handing the reins to our dedicated cadre of editors-in-training, who will officially take office after our March elections. Every day, the names of the compets working on that issue of The Sun will appear below the masthead. And dedicated though they may be, these neophytes are going to need all the help they can get, so please let them know what you like in the paper and what you think could be improved.
The next six weeks will see their fair share of typos, style errors, and mistakes. But those are the growing pains necessary; this trial by fire will give the incoming editors the skills they need to ensure The Sun remains as innovative, effective and forward-looking in its 139th year as it was in its first.
So with that, us 136s will put down our pens and pick up our pom-poms, as we transition to our new roles as cheerleaders and mentors. It’s gonna be great.
Semper sui iuris,
— J.S.K.R.