Who We Are

The Columbia Daily Spectator has proudly served as the heart of Columbia University and its surrounding communities since 1877. As one of the world’s preeminent college newspapers, weprovide breaking university and city news, high-caliber investigative and op-ed journalism, as well as a window into New York City culture. We’re also a fundamental campus institution—reading the Spec is an integral part of the Columbian experience, and the unparalleled opportunities offered by our organization have cultivated countless high-quality student reporters, writers, and artists.

Why We Need You

Although Spectator has kept the pulse of the Columbia Community for generations, our paper’s own lifeblood has been maintained by 136 years of loyal readers and supporters. Particularly since securing our financial independence from the University in 1962 for the sake of advancing unfettered ethical journalism, Spectator has relied on the donations of the generous individuals who see the merit in what we do, whether they benefited from our opportunities as a staff member, enjoy reading Spectator as a student or New York City resident, or appreciate the importance of rigorously training future media leaders. Run entirely by students as a non-profit venture, the Spectator Publishing Company can only do so much to make ends meet in an economic climate averse to paper advertising. Best of all, since we are a 501(c)3 non-profit, your donation is tax deductible.

Still not convinced? Here are a couple reasons we think you should help us out:

• Spectator is the essential nexus of the Columbian dialogue, serving as a forum for students to voice opinions, a wellspring of campus-related information, as well as a watchful guardian of the integrity and quality of our academic home.
• Spectator is the go-to source for information about Morningside Heights and West Harlem. Local residents depend on our paper to bring them news, features, and perspectives relevant to their daily lives.
• Spectator provides unparalleled on-campus opportunities for student journalists by rigorously training its staff (about 100 large), carefully mentoring its contributors (about 300 each year), and providing invaluable experiences in writing, reporting, photography, design, editing, coding, ad sales, fundraising, and more.
• Spectator links students to the local, alumni, and professional communities by leveraging its prominence on campus to host speaker panels, journalism development workshops, and donor/alumni/community events.
• Spectator can better accomplish these goals as it develops as a 21^st century organization by incorporating real-time social media updates, an up-to-date blog, a mobile app, an online student events calendar, graphics and interactive features associated with articles, and new ways to browse multimedia content.
• Spectator is digitizing its archives, diversifying its staff, enhancing its technological capacity, expanding its daily operations, hosting events, and publishing special issues as part of its fundraising initiatives
• As a 501c3 organization, all donations to Spectator are tax-deductible.