Publications oVerview

The Columbia Daily Spectator was founded in 1877 as a literary magazine for the Columbia community. It is the second-oldest college daily newspaper in the country and has been independent from the University since 1962. In 2018, The Princeton Review ranked The Columbia Daily Spectator as the number one college newspaper in the nation.

In the spring of 2014, the Spectator decided to discontinue daily printing of the Columbia Daily Spectator and weekly printing of The Eye in order to shift financial resources and our journalists’ focus to the quality of our coverage and our digital presence. Beginning in the fall of 2014, the Columbia Daily Spectator prints one issue each Thursday, and both the Columbia Daily Spectator and The Eye thrive online.

In September 2014, the Washington Post began providing our publications with digital tools that enhance our journalism and expand our options for storytelling. This technology is what The Post uses every day for its own journalists, and it has already helped Spectator elevate the ways we can present stories online.

The Eye

Founded in 2006, The Eye is Spectator’s long-form magazine. Through narrative writing and visuals, it seeks to investigate and humanize issues facing community members both on campus and in the Morningside Heights and West Harlem neighborhoods.

Spectrum

Spectrum is your go-to guide to surviving and thriving at Columbia. Learn how to navigate housing, academics, the city, and more with Spectrum's service journalism insights.

Find where you fit in media.

Our Columbia Media Conference brings together leaders to discuss the ideas that are transforming the media landscape. Highlighting innovation in both journalism and business, this conference unites these two sides of the industry. Spectator has been honored to welcome past speakers such as the Publisher of Buzzfeed, Dao Nguyen, and the Managing Editor of Time, Edward Felsenthal. In 2015, we were thrilled to have Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of the New York Times, join us as our keynote speaker. 

discover action that drives change.

Spectator has spearheaded the conversation about equality with our Columbia Women’s Leadership Conference (CWLC), a symposium addressing issues that young women encounter both in college and after graduation. We have been honored to bring insightful and inspiring women such as Emma Carmichael, Nancy Jo Sales, and past keynote speakers Gloria Steinem and creator of the Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler.

decide if medicine is right for you.

Launched in the Spring of 2015 by pre-med students at Spectator, the Pre-Med Summit aims to bring together a community passionate about medicine. Created in collaboration with the Pre-Health Deans and student groups, this summit promises to introduce students to then diversity in the world of medicine, fill in the gaps, and give them the tools to decide if medicine is right for them.

Tell stories that go unseen.

The diversity of the characters we see on our screens inevitably shapes how we see the world. A new event for Spectator, this conference aims to advance the conversation about representation in media by bringing together leaders creating content that celebrates the diversity of our cultures and perspectives to tell the stories that often go unseen.