What Is The Harvard Crimson?

Updated

The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com) is Harvard University’s student-run daily newspaper. It describes itself as “the nation’s oldest continuously published daily college newspaper.” Use the site to follow Harvard campus news, Cambridge city affairs, student opinion, arts coverage, and Harvard sports; it is a news publication, not an official Harvard University administrative site.

What the site covers

The homepage organizes content into clearly labeled sections:

  • News — campus and local reporting
  • Opinion — columns and student arguments
  • Arts — cultural coverage and reviews
  • Blog — shorter, less formal posts
  • Magazine — longer-form features
  • Multimedia — visual and audio content
  • Sports — Harvard athletics
  • Newsletter — a subscription entry point linked from the site

The mix is visible in current headlines: a Harvard women’s tennis player transferring to Michigan, Cambridge MCAS math and science scores, a City Council push to make Route 1 bus fare-free, the Institute of Politics ending off-campus retreats, and students using expanded Claude access in classes and personal projects.

Who runs it and what that means for readers

The Crimson is a student newspaper. That shapes what you get:

  • Reporting on Harvard and Cambridge is the core beat, so it is a useful source for campus events, student life, and town-gown issues.
  • Opinion pieces are student arguments, not institutional positions. The homepage currently features columns on adopting the Chicago Principles, kosher camping, Herodotus, and a cap on A grades.
  • It is independent of Harvard’s administration, so coverage can include criticism of university decisions.

For official policies, admissions, or calendars, go to Harvard’s own sites. For how those policies are being received and debated on campus, The Crimson is a reasonable starting point.

How to use the site

  1. Open thecrimson.com and scan the section menu (News, Opinion, Arts, Blog, Magazine, Multimedia, Sports).
  2. Click a headline to read the full article; bylines and publication dates appear with each story.
  3. To get stories delivered, use the Newsletter link, which goes to the site’s subscribe page.
  4. For a specific topic, use the site’s own navigation and search rather than relying on the homepage feed, which rotates as new stories publish.

Expected result: you land on a dated article with an author byline, or you sign up for the newsletter through the subscribe page.

Common sticking points

  • Paywall assumptions: the site links to a subscribe page for its newsletter. The provided site information does not state whether article access is free, metered, or restricted, so check the page itself before assuming.
  • Mistaking it for Harvard’s official site: thecrimson.com is the newspaper; harvard.edu is the university.
  • Recency: the homepage shows a dated print edition (Volume CLIII) alongside current stories, so confirm the date on an article before citing it.

When it is the right source

Choose The Crimson when you need student-reported coverage of Harvard and Cambridge, a sense of campus debate, or sports and arts reporting from inside the university. Choose Harvard’s official pages or Cambridge city sources when you need authoritative policy text, official statements, or municipal records.