Letter From the Editors: Roots and Changes
Graphic by Patrick Sliz
We Belong to No One but Ourselves
Dear Readers,
Whether this is your first or fiftieth read, we’re so glad you have decided to join us. To our newcomers: welcome. If you are curious, let us satiate you.
The Indy’s story begins much earlier than our first issue. The first newspapers emerged in 1605, over a hundred years after the invention of the printing press. Eighty-five years later, in Colonial America, Benjamin Harris published America’s first multi-page newspaper, “Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick,” in Boston. Newspapers quickly became divisive political tools in the late 18th century. In 1833, steam-driven printing presses enabled publishers like Benjamin Day of “The Sun” to sell papers for just one penny, bringing journalism and print news to a broader American population.
Then comes us. Over a century later, in 1969, amid campus protests during the Vietnam War, Harvard undergraduates founded the “Harvard Independent,” believing the institution’s publication landscape demanded a fresh alternative to the “Harvard Crimson.” The Indy was conceived with a fierce, genuine promise: to publish bipartisan, independent coverage to counter an openly biased press.
Each fall, campus predictably changes, but the Indy’s core has remained unchanged for 57 years. We have existed as a reliable, objective, and extraordinary counterpoint to prevailing opinions. The stories we tell belong to everyone.
Still, we are not entirely without iteration and improvement each cycle.
We didn’t always have our iconic, recognizably colorful hand-designed covers—and we definitely used to have more ads. The Sex Issue hasn’t always come in the fall, and the Weed Issue used to set the administration more ablaze.
During the dot-com surge, like most other print publications, the Indy moved from print to a website and a weekly email newsletter.
But we didn’t stop there.
At times, our issues have had dozens of photos. In other semesters, they’ve contained only illustrations. Alongside our breaking news and opinionated forum pieces, we’ve published full photo spreads, poetic short stories, satire, sports gambling tips, comics, and even music playlists.
In just the past five years, we’ve added video journalism, podcasts, posters, and clothing to our portfolio. Still, amidst all these changes, we stick to our roots when it counts.
Throughout our constant evolution, the “Harvard Independent” has always had something for everyone, because we welcome everyone. We were founded as a student-focused alternative to biased press, and we remain that countercultural beacon. The Indy beats with the pulse of the Harvard student body. We Belong to No One but Ourselves, and so we are for ourselves. The Indy is for journalists, artists, deal-makers, engineers, loud people, quiet people, virgins, smokers, people who get scared of the dark, knife-throwers, creatives of all types, and anyone who looks good in purple.
We don’t subscribe to the status quo (although we do hope you’ll subscribe to us!), even as we report on it. When you open an Indy issue, we hope you feel as though you’ve been invited into our home: momentarily privy to our private conversations (and disagreements), the news we project onto our televisions, the topics we find relevant, the people we care to hear from, the jokes we find funny, and the sketches we choose to bold and color in.
This semester, we’ll write to you about everything. We’ll talk about new technology, international relations, Halloween (and every other fall or winter holiday), and Harvard athletics. We will sell you posters of Harvard Houses to hang up in your bedroom, advertise Harvard-Yale hoodies to wear once and then gift to your younger siblings, and give you little candy pouches in our door drops. You’ll see our interviews on Instagram, and our covers virtually everywhere, on campus and off.
As President and Editor-in-Chief, we eat, sleep, and breathe the “Harvard Independent” not just because we love it, but because we believe in it. We hope you’ll find us lovable enough to stick around for a little taste. If you are a student, consider comping. If you are a parent, sign up for our newsletter. If you are an alum, subscribe. If you are a reader with no affiliation at all, share your favorite article or cover with your group chat. And if you are a writer, submit a story for us to publish.
As we say, “If we belong to no one, how can we tell anyone that they don’t belong with us?”
Rania Jones ’27 (rjones@college.harvard.edu) and Mia Tavares ’27 (miatavares@college.harvard.edu) can’t wait to shepherd another semester of Indy legacy, love, and impact.