The Sun has lost its reign as the only club named after a celestial body on campus. Now, a club known for moon gazing and anti-capitalist sentiments is urging The Sun to shake the sunshine from its name.
“As a group of moon lovers who endorse moon gazing and advocate against Sun-hours propaganda, we are calling for The Sun to reconsider its name,” Cornell Moon Club wrote in an online petition. “The moon is the center of our universe, and we think it deserves its rightful place as the ultimate celestial body on this campus.”
The Moon Club meets every full moon at Baker Flagpole to moon gaze and blaze, and knits together a group of moon lovers who hope to push against internalized capitalism on campus through the Instagram page @cornellmoonclub.
But according to Moon Club founder and president Luna Mond ’22, group moon gazing and memeing isn’t enough to spread its influence across campus.
Mond said the Cornell community needs to embrace the moon as the superior celestial body, and renaming its newspaper is a powerful way to start. The petition has circulated across social media and has amassed more than 420 signatures as of Monday evening.
“With all due respect to The Sun, I think The Nightly Moon would better suit our nocturnal campus,” Mond said. “Sunshine already had its moment. It’s time to look to the moon, because it is seriously dope as hell. If we can get enough signatures, maybe we can bring this to the editorial board by the next full moon.”
The Cornell Daily Sun editorial board wrote in a joint statement that they were aware of the petition and said a long-term name change remains unlikely. The newspaper remains fond of sunshine, the statement read, but they are willing to test out the moonlight for one day only.
Dozens of Cornell Daily Sun alumni took to social media to criticize the petition, arguing that the calls to rename the paper are “seriously disrespectful and damaging to this 140-year-old institution,” one Facebook comment read. Another alum wrote on Facebook that changing celestial bodies “would be dishonorable to Kurt Vonnegut ’44.”
A young alumnus tweeted that he worried renaming the newspaper would have other consequences — including forcing staffers and alumni to call themselves “moonies” instead of “sunnies.”
Still, Mond said Cornell Moon Club looks forward to continuing to spread its affection for the moon across campus.
“The petition is a step in the right direction,” Mond said. “Who wouldn’t want to be a moonie? Even if we can’t convince them to permanently change celestial bodies, I really hope the newspaper editors keep our dear moon close to their hearts.”
This piece is part of The Sun’s April 20 joke issue series. For more, visit https://cornellsun.com/category/four-twenty/twentyone/.