To the Freshman Class of 2026,
Greetings! On behalf of the entire team at the Cornell Review, I would like to welcome you to Cornell University and beautiful Ithaca, New York. The Cornell Review’s freshman edition is geared towards helping new students learn a bit more about our university’s history and institutions. This magazine also showcases the conservative community at Cornell, showing the different ways our peers are challenging the liberal orthodoxy.
The Cornell Review’s mission is to provide conservatives, libertarians, and heterodox thinkers with the opportunity to present insightful and well-written analysis on issues facing our community. We also strive to keep everyone informed of developments on-campus and beyond, whether it is the abysmal turnout in the Student Assembly’s elections or the latest changes in our COVID-19 policies.
Additionally, we are committed to promoting civil discourse and robust, reasoned debate.
University president Martha Pollack recently urged the incoming class to “develop an appreciation of the importance of free speech.” She said:
“You’re going to encounter a lot of new ideas here. Some of them will fascinate and inspire you. Some you’re going to disagree with. And some, you might really hate. What I want you to do — and it isn’t always going to be easy — is listen to as many of them as you can.”
We believe that free speech is essential to a stimulating inquiry and maintaining a healthy campus culture. It is not always easy to express conservative or right-of-center opinions in the classroom. We hope that the Review can give students an outlet to express these views and positively contribute to the wider political discourse campuswide.
Now, since our founding in 1984, our motto has been “We Do Not Apologize.” At times in the past few years, however, we have lost sight of our Cornell-centric mission. We may have alienated our readers by being too focused on national politics or the events of the last election, diverting our attention away from the issues Cornellians care about.
This year, we intend to make a fresh start. First, we promise to remain Cornell-focused, covering the stories that those in both the university and Ithaca care about. Second, to further our commitment to lively discourse, we intend to refrain from publishing editorials. And lastly, we hope to create a space for debate within the campus conservative, libertarian, and heterodox communities. Through these actions, we hope to become the alternative voice on campus.
I want to thank our team for making this Freshman Edition magazine possible. I also want to express my appreciation for the support we’ve received from students, alumni, and others.
And most of all, I am grateful to you, dear reader, for picking up our magazine and for being open to a different point of view.
I wish you all the best for your first semester at Big Red.
Sincerely,
Samuel Kim ‘23
Editor-in-Chief, The Cornell Review
This piece was originally printed in the Cornell Review’s September 2022 Freshman Edition.
