Cornell Progressive

Cornell Progressive
Type	Monthly newspaper
Format	Tabloid, on newsprint
Owner	Independent
Founded	2000
Political allegiance	Liberal/Progressive
Price	Free
Headquarters	Ithaca, New York
Circulation	3,000+

The Cornell Progressive (formerly named Turn Left) is an independent student-run publication at Cornell University. Turn Left was founded in 2000, calling itself "Cornell's Liberal Voice," and focused on political and humanitarian issues that it believed were underreported by other media outlets.^[1] It also participated in campus dialogs through debates and other events in collaboration with other student organizations.^[2] In a controversial decision, Turn Left was renamed The Cornell Progressive in February 2007.^[3]

History

Founded in 2000 by three engineering students to counter the domination of the independent campus press by the conservative Cornell Review, Turn Left became an influential source for political discussion and debate at Cornell. During the 2004 election, the Turn Left staff generally backed moderate Democrat John Kerry for the presidency over more liberal candidates such as independent Ralph Nader. The publication itself did not endorse a candidate.^[4] TL notably avoided a hard line on such hot-button issues as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Turn Left attracted much notice among Cornellians in the spring of 2005 for its scathing attack on the Cornell Daily Sun in response to what it considered poor reporting of major issues on campus, such as the 2005 Student Assembly elections scandal, and a dearth of quality opinion writing.^[5] TL also raised its profile with its efforts to expand coverage of local and campus issues, as well as its sometimes biting satire ^[6] and extensive coverage of international events. Turn Left was the only publication at Cornell that consistently covered the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.^[7] In 2005, Turn Left exposed a scandal involving alleged improprieties in the conduct of the leadership of The Cornell Democrats and the Cornell Student Assembly, both led at the time by Tim Lim '06.^[8] Lim later removed himself from the presidency of the Democrats in a cloud of controversy,^[9] and Cornell students launched a campaign to discredit the allegedly fraudulent March 2005 Student Assembly elections^[10] - both events influenced in large part by TL reporting and opinion. In the Spring of 2007, co-editors Shai Akabas '09 and Ethan Felder '09 launched a successful but controversial campaign to change the name of the publication to The Cornell Progressive. The executive board voted 6-2 to amend the organization's constitution in March of 2007. Most of the opposition to the name change came from alumni, some of whom sent out lengthy letters on the subject to the paper's email list-serv.^{[11] [12]} After only publishing two issues during the Spring 2007 semester, The Cornell Progressive released four issues during Fall 2007. A special orientation issue was successful in recruiting several talented freshmen to the staff. The paper plans to release another four-five issues in Spring 2008.

Features

The Cornell Progressive is known for its witty and often scathing "Back-Burners," which usually target prominent conservatives. Also, the "Top 10," a long-time feature of the paper's back page, was replaced in Fall 2007 with "The Last Laugh," a collection of left-leaning political cartoons and lines from late-night television. The Progressive has two regular columnists.

Milestones

• Turn Left premiered in a bounded magazine format in time for Election 2000. All subsequent issues were in newsprint.
• Since 2005, The Center for American Progress's campus outreach division, Campus Progress, has provided the paper with substantial grant funding. The Cornell Progressive is also funded in part by Cornell's Student Assembly and ad revenue.^[13]

Founders

• Tsee Yuan Lee '02
• Tsee Yung Lee '02
• Thomas M. Leung '02, '03

Recent Editors-in-Chief

• Shai Akabas '09 and Elie Bilmes '10, Spring 2008 - Present
• Ethan Felder '09 and Shai Akabas '09, Spring 2007 - Fall 2007
• Jamie Gullen '07 and Rich Getzel '08, Fall 2006
• Evan Marshak '07, Spring 2006
• Wayne Huang '07, Spring 2005 - Fall 2005
• Andrew Garib '06, Spring 2003 - Fall 2004^[14]
• David Lew, Fall 2002

Editors Emeriti

• Ethan Felder '09

References