Dear readers,

One-hundred-twenty years ago, The Daily Orange, then known as Syracuse Daily Orange, printed its first issue. Founding Editor Irving R. Templeton and his staff outlined the newspaper’s mission in a short announcement at the top of the second page.

“The Orange aims to furnish all the college news while it is news, to serve as a bulletin both for Professors, and for students’ activities, to give the alumni news and news of other colleges, and in all things to unify the interest of all the Syracuse colleges.”

One-hundred-twenty years later, we still have the same goals, but have expanded what it means to be the campus’ paper. Today The D.O. covers not just SU, but SUNY ESF and the city of Syracuse. While Syracuse University may be a “campus on the hill,” its impact on Onondaga County doesn’t stop at Marshall Street.

A lot has changed since The D.O.’s inception. In 1971, we became independent from the university. In 1991, we became fully financially independent, moving away from Student Association funding. In 2019, we moved our office to 230 Euclid Ave. after 20 years at 744 Ostrom Ave.

Running a nonprofit newspaper in this century hasn’t been easy. The D.O. dropped the Friday print edition due to declining advertising sales in 2008. The Tuesday print edition was dropped starting in fall 2018. Now, we print once a week on Thursday mornings.

But we’ve thrived through the constant help of our donors, alumni network and advertisers. As a staff, we are forever grateful for that support. In a world that looks much different from when The D.O. started, we’ve moved much of our work online, meeting our readers where they get their news, sports, culture and opinion.

So, what’s next? In the future, we will continue to be the bearer of truth at Syracuse University. We will continue to do our best to be accurate and honest in our coverage. We will continue to tell important stories about Syracuse University and SUNY ESF faculty and students, as well as the surrounding city.

“We cannot be perfect in literary style or selection, but we shall endeavor to attain an excellence in the Orange, which shall make for it an honored name in college journalism,” the original announcement ended.

It’s been an honor to serve Syracuse for the last 12 decades. Here’s to 12 more!

Sincerely,

Anish Vasudevan | Editor-in-chief

Kyle Chouinard | Managing Editor

Sophie Szydlik | Digital Managing Editor

Published on September 15, 2023 at 3:41 pm