The Cavalier Daily

The Cavalier Daily printed its first issue under the name College Topics on January 15, 1890. In 1924, the newspaper increased its publication schedule from twice a week to six times a week, making the paper a daily. However, the following year, the paper's off-campus printer suffered a catastrophic fire, and the newspaper alternated between two and three publication days a week until 1940.

During World War II College Topics struggled for survival as the University of Virginia student population was greatly reduced due to the war effort. By 1943, the paper had become a four-page weekly that featured only bulletins. After the war, the paper increased its circulation and content, and was renamed The Cavalier Daily on May 4, 1948.

The admission of women and African-American students to the University of Virginia beginning in the early 1970s changed the face of the paper as well as the university community. The increased diversity of the community challenged what is often characterized as the preexisting "good old boy" attitude at both the school and The Cavalier Daily, resulting in a staff that became more motivated and ambitious. The first woman member of the Managing Board, Mary Love, was elected business manager in 1973, and the first woman editor-in-chief, Marjorie Leedy, followed in 1976. During this time, Managing Board races became highly competitive, and the paper adopted more professional journalistic standards. In 1973, a staff split resulted in several unsuccessful candidates for the Managing Board leaving to form The Declaration, a weekly tabloid-format publication that continues to publish. In 1976, The Cavalier Daily became the first college publication to receive a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.

The University's Media Board, a body composed of students and supervised by the University's Board of Visitors, was founded in 1976 to regulate on-Grounds media, but The Cavalier Daily ignored it as a matter of practice. In April 1979, the confrontation came to a head when University President Frank Hereford presented the paper with the ultimatum of accepting the Media Board and the Board of Visitors' authority or being forced to leave its offices. The newspaper refused to acknowledge administrative supervision, and The Cavalier Daily was evicted from its offices on April 4, 1979, continuing to publish from rented space in the offices of Charlottesville's Daily Progress.

On April 5, a student protest of the eviction, including a 1,500-student demonstration in front of Hereford's office on the Lawn and condemnation from Student Council, encouraged both sides to end the impasse, and the newspaper agreed to a compromise on April 6. The Cavalier Daily's movement toward complete independence emerged from the Media Board crisis.

The fallout of the Media Board crisis led to the 1983 formation of the Cavalier Daily Alumni Association, with the stated purpose to support the newspaper and aid it in times of need.

In 1979, the University saw the creation of another student-run newspaper, the University Journal, which originally formed in opposition to what many saw as the left-wing editorial stances of The Cavalier Daily. An intense rivalry between the two newspapers for news and advertising grew as the University Journal published three times weekly in the 1980s and then four times weekly beginning in 1991. Amid significant debt, the University Journal cut back production starting in 1996 and ceased to exist by 1998. Since that time, The Cavalier Daily has been one of two physical newspapers at the University of Virginia, alongside The Declaration, a bi-weekly tabloid-format newsmagazine. In April 2021, the Jefferson Independent launched as a student-run conservative news publication aimed at protecting free speech at the University. The rival publication gained prominence the next year when The Cavalier Daily Editorial Board became engulfed in controversy for calling on the University to ban a former Vice President from speaking at the University because of his conservative viewpoints.[2] In an op-ed titled "Speech Does Not Need the Cavalier Daily’s Approval," the Jeff Editorial Board denounced the paper's reasoning.

In 1995, The Cavalier Daily Online Edition was launched, and in 1998, The Cavalier Daily began to pay rent for its offices in Newcomb Hall, the last step in the path toward complete independence from the University that began in earlier decades. The Digitization Project, completed in 2001, made all aspects of production computer-based. In May 2020, The Cavalier Daily launched a redesigned website.

In the media firestorm surrounding the forced resignation of Teresa Sullivan, the University of Virginia president, The Cavalier Daily obtained a series of emails using the Freedom of Information Act that shone a light on the actions of the University's Board of Visitors.

In September 2007, The Cavalier Daily received backlash for publishing a cartoon that depicted nine Black men in loincloths throwing ordinary items such as a shoe and a chair at each other, with the caption: "Ethiopian Food Fight." The newspaper later retracted the cartoon and fired the cartoonist. The editor in chief at the time told The Washington Post that he knew the cartoon was offensive, but approved it anyways because "we print a lot of offensive things."[3] The previous week, the same cartoonist made a strip that depicted Thomas Jefferson with a whip, standing before a Black woman sitting on the bed, who says, "Thomas, could we try role-playing for a change?"[4] The string of cartoons frayed The Cavalier Daily's relationship with the Black community on Grounds, and a Facebook group titled "THE CAV DAILY IS ABOUT TO BE FINISHED" soon emerged. The page claimed "the Cav Daily has crossed the boundary, but this time will not go unnoticed. We need to organize and end this racism once and for all."[4]

In March 2022, The Cavalier Daily published an editorial claiming that former Vice President Mike Pence "threatens the lives” of students and others on campus and should not be allowed to give a talk at the University of Virginia, citing his record on issues concerning LGBTQ individuals, minorities and immigrants.[5] The editorial caused an uproar among national media, including the Washington Post's own Editorial Board, which called The Cavalier Daily's position "not only wrongheaded but also, in the case of a public university, probably illegal."[2] Fox News reported that Pence had spoken at several colleges with zero evidence of students being endangered as a result.[6] University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom denounced The Cavalier Daily's argument, writing that Pence's visit "is an opportunity to listen and grow in our understanding of a particular perspective."[7] A week later, a group of 17 faculty members published a letter to The Cavalier Daily urging its editors "to renew their dedication to [the] fundamental University value" of free speech. The letter was signed "Concerned Faculty" and included professors from the UVA School of Law and Center for Politics, including political analyst Larry Sabato.[8] University leaders said they invited The Cavalier Daily Editorial Board to have a public discussion on free speech, but the editors "were unable to attend."[9]

• Nancy Andrews (Managing Editor, 1985): photojournalist and author, 1999 White House Photographer of the Year
• Nancy Barnes (Editor-in-Chief, 1981): senior vice president for news and editorial director, National Public Radio; former executive editor, The Houston Chronicle [16]
• Kate Bedingfield (Sports Writer, 2000–02): White House Communications Director in the Biden administration
• Jamelle Bouie (Arts Writer, 2006): opinion columnist, The New York Times; political analyst, CBS News; former chief political correspondent, Slate magazine[17]
• Katie Couric (Associate Editor): broadcast journalist and long-time NBC Today Show co-host; anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News; correspondent for 60 Minutes and reporter for ABC, CBS, and NBC; first solo female anchor of a major network evening news program, author of New York Times best-seller, inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
• Robert Cullen: former international correspondent for Newsweek and author [18]
• Lane DeGregory (Editor-in-Chief, 1988–89): features writer for St. Petersburg Times, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Marty Kady (News Editor, 1993): editor, Politico Pro [19]
• Meredith Kopit Levien: chief executive officer, The New York Times [20]
• George P. Rodrigue III (Editor-in-Chief, 1977–78): former editor-in-chief of The Plain Dealer, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner[21]
• Sheryl Gay Stolberg (Executive Editor, 1982–83): Washington correspondent covering health policy and former White House correspondent, The New York Times
• Ben Tobin (Managing Editor, 2018–19): business reporter for the Louisville Courier Journal, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Michael Vitez (Editor-in-Chief, 1978–79): journalist with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pulitzer Prize winner

• Alfred Berkeley, III, former president, NASDAQ stock exchange
• Robert W. Daniel, Jr., former U.S. congressman from Virginia, 1973–1983
• William Stamps Farish III, former U.S. ambassador to the UK, 2001–2004
• John T. Casteen III, president, University of Virginia, 1990–2010