(Photo: @theharvardcrimson via Instagram)
Chicago — Raquel Coronell Uribe will head the Harvard Crimson, one of America’s oldest college newspapers, starting in January, according to CNBC.
As president, she wants to make the newsroom more inclusive, hoping her election will open the door for more leadership opportunities for Hispanic students, she told NPR.
“I’m hoping that opening that door will allow it to stay open,” she said, adding, “That’s what makes me the most excited.”
Coronell, 23, is a junior studying history and literature, who has worked as a reporter covering police accountability at The Crimson. She has also served as a social media manager and newsletter editor for the paper.
She is the daughter of two Colombian journalists, whose work inspired her. The family fled to California after receiving death threats because of her father’s investigative reporting.
“Especially as I’ve become more aware of what happened as I’ve gotten older, it’s just made me want to go into journalism even more, because I can’t think of something more impactful than providing vital information to the people around you and allowing them to make informed and better decisions,” she told NPR.
Her election comes a few years after Kristine E. Guillaume became The Crimson’s first Black woman to lead the paper. Now, Coronell wants to build on previous leaders’ legacies and expand its digital technologies.
“I do question why it took 148 years to elect a Latinx president,” said Coronell. “And I think that it’s indicative of a problem that the Crimson has been working toward fixing and done a better job at, which is making sure that we are accessible to anyone who wants to join.”