During Fall Break, The Davidson Lux traveled to New York City to meet with Alex Nagin (Columbia ‘26), Editor-in-Chief of The Columbia Sundial, a fellow independent newspaper of the TFAS Student Journalism Association.

Refounded in 2024, Sundial revived a campus magazine first established in 1910—the very publication where a young Barack Obama (Columbia ‘83) once wrote about the “twisted logic” of Cold War thinking.

Tired of ideological uniformity in campus discourse, Sundial seeks “to challenge readers with perspectives and ideas they haven’t heard before.” Their main goal: “to get you thinking.”

“We have both communists and MAGA in our staff,” Nagin told us with a grin. “We don’t just check ideological boxes—we challenge each other with principled arguments.”

From left to right in front of Alma Mater at Columbia: Pablo Quintero, Zeyad Elmasheiti, Alex Nagin, Ethan Tran, and Ezra Steinman (photo by Emma Shen, Columbia University)

In our meeting with Sundial, we talked about the struggle of building something from nothing—no funding, no precedent, and no assurance that anyone would care to read. Yet their beginnings were even shakier than ours. Students went out of their way to hide or even throw away their magazines.

We talked about lighter things, too. He laughed when I told him one student thought we were an “alt-right newspaper.” I nearly choked on my coffee when he explained their article that used readability tests and machine learning methods to prove their university presidents’ emails were statistically terrible. I guess that’s what Ivy League students do in their free time.

Our main takeaway, though, was direction—what it means to have a voice that’s actually heard. Sundial’s writers understand their privilege: at Columbia, their work reaches national eyes. Their problem isn’t being heard—it’s protecting the freedom to keep speaking amid the noise.

Davidson’s challenge is different. We’re not fighting to protect a national spotlight; we’re building one of our own. Our influence may be regional, but that makes it tangible. When we write, we speak to our peers, our community, and our corner of the country. If we do it well, our voice can echo far beyond campus walls. We can stand as a paragon of free speech—where diverse opinions clash, reason prevails, and the earnest pursuit of truth remains our highest calling.

Already in the preamble of Davidson’s constitution, later reinstated and further expanded in our Commitment to Freedom of Expression, we see this mission outlined:

“Davidson dedicates itself to the quest for truth and encourages teachers and students to explore the whole of reality, whether physical or spiritual, with unlimited employment of their intellectual powers… Davidson… intends to teach all students to think clearly, to make relevant judgments, to discriminate among values, and to communicate freely with others in the realm of ideas.”

And we have the institutional foundations to support it: a serious and old Honor Code, programs like the Institute for Public Good, and a liberal-arts education that trains us to read closely, argue fairly, and change our minds when reason demands it. Those habits matter more than slogans.

As a liberal-arts college, we hold a rare advantage. Our students think across disciplines, finding complexity where others see certainty. Every subject stretches a different muscle of the mind. This breadth refines judgment and deepens reflection, making the pursuit of truth not just freer, but richer.

Davidson already nurtures the seeds of greatness in its institutions and great community that support us. The question is whether we, the students, are ready to live up to it.

If we keep writing—if we keep turning conviction into words that provoke thought instead of silence—Davidson can become something greater than excellent. It can become a model: a college known not for conformity, but for courage tempered by humility; not for comfort, but for conviction guided by prudence.

Let Davidson shine as an example to every other college. Let us engage in the arduous quest for the truth. Let us be known as the bastion of free speech and liberal learning.

Let us cast off timid restrictions and awaken the full passions of our student body, striving, together, toward a brighter and braver future.

Alenda Lux Ubi Orta Libertas– “Let Learning be Cherished Where Liberty has Arisen”

Let those words endure as our motto, the excellence we share with the world!

Davidson Meets Columbia: Our Call to…