Correction appended.
On-campus publications — scattered everywhere from Libe Café to the furthest corners of the veterinary school — cover every topic Cornellians can dream of, from fashion magazines to book reviews.
These publications are a way for students to explore and access spaces they otherwise wouldn’t enter. The Sun sat down with a number of publications — many of which find themselves filling niche nooks in the Cornell community — to discover what they can offer Cornell students.
“The Cornell Book Review is for people who like reading but, even if they don’t have the time to read a lot, they can read one book a semester and improve their writing skills,” said Kelly Stone ’20, president of the Cornell Book Review.
The Cornell Book Review publishes its student-written and edited reviews biannually, dissecting new books. The print magazine is deposited in different public places at the end of each semester, but the organization has also embraced online blog posts, according to its website.
As the Book Review hones in on the shelves, Cornell Equity Research has turned to stocks. Started in August 2019, the organization analyzes publicly traded equities, evaluating past and current events that may have an effect on their valuations.
“We did not think that there was a robust finance publication on campus” said Josue Sanchez ’20, the group’s founder. “We wanted to fill that niche.”
This attitude is common among the many campus publications.
“We consider ourselves the only food publication on campus,” said Priya Pradhan ’22, managing editor of Crème de Cornell, which published its first edition in spring 2010. The magazine focuses on curating recipes and peoples’ experiences with food — a menu that can include anything from finger foods to deserts.
Another pioneering publication, Collective X, also seeks to fill a void: the bridge between fashion and literature. Olivia Chaudhury ’20, co-president of Collective X, described the social justice fashion publication as one that “aims to develop the narrative experiences of oppressed and disregarded populations,” according to its website.
The magazine’s first issue in May 2017, for instance, declared that its mission was about “visibility,” writing that the issues of race and fashion were intertwined.
Some of these publications attempt to appeal to many people across campus — not just their narrower audiences.
“We wanted to create a publication that everyone can read. [The articles are] two pages long!”, said Christina Lu ’21, the president and co-founder of The Cornell Diplomat. “It’s understandable and that’s important.”
The Diplomat — which published its first issue “Regime (In)stability” in fall 2018 — is a magazine about international issues, catered specifically to engaging the Cornell community.
No matter what a Cornellian wants to read — or, in fact, write about — there’s some campus cover for them.
Clarification: This article was updated to clarify that the articles in The Cornell Diplomat are two pages long, not the publication.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misconstrued what Stone said about The Cornell Book Review. Stone said the Cornell Book Review is catered toward people who enjoy reading, but do not have the time to do so voraciously, not for people who like to read one book a semester. An earlier version of this article also misstated the types of books The Cornell Book Review reviews. The Cornell Book Review solely examines new books in its biannual issue, not new and old books.