At nearly 150 years of age, The Harvard Crimson is the oldest college newspaper in the United States. And now, the storied publication has broken another historic and inclusive milestone, naming its first-ever Hispanic president: Raquel Coronell Uribe.
Nicole Acevedo of NBC News reported that Uribe, a student at the school majoring in history and literature, will take over the leadership role at the paper starting in January 2022.
Raquel Coronell Uribe ’23 will lead The Harvard Crimson’s 149th Guard, becoming the paper’s first Latinx president in its 148-year history. https://t.co/kXSrmVuDRX
— The Harvard Crimson (@thecrimson) November 12, 2021
“I really wanted to help shape what the organization could look like in the future. So, I had to give myself a chance to try and run for the presidency,” Coronell Uribe said in an interview with NBC News. “I’m really honored to be the first Latinx president, but we have to make sure that doesn’t mean that I’m the last. I really want to make sure that this door remains open for other people.”
Coronell Uribe said her interest in journalism is a lifelong passion brought about by her parents, who are also in the journalism industry.
“Her father, Daniel Coronell, is the former president of Univision News, and her mother, María Cristina Uribe, was a well-known TV news anchor,” Acevedo said. “They both hail from Colombia.”
In accepting the position, Coronell Uribe thanked her parents for their passion for reporting — and for helping her recognize the importance of inclusion and representation in all areas, including journalism.
Recent reports have shown a lack of Black, Hispanic, and Asian American representation in student newsrooms. Coronell Uribe has said trying to address this issue is one of her biggest ambitions as she assumes the Crimson presidency to make the newspaper “a place where anybody can thrive regardless of your ethnicity or race or background or socioeconomic status.”
“The Crimson, the oldest continuously run college newspaper, is editorially and financially independent from Harvard University and is supported by student-run business and technology boards,” Acevedo reported. “Part of Coronell Uribe’s job will be to sustain those structures with the help of two other students who will also take on other leadership roles at the paper.”
Previous editors of The Harvard Crimson include former Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, writer David Halberstam and novelist Michael Crichton.
Related: For more recent diversity and inclusion news, click here.
