Who We Are

American University students love to talk. Whether that's in Club Lib or on the quad, we're always discussing, challenging, and learning.

But our staff at The Rival American saw a trend- our conversations were often confined to Facebook statuses or in the black hole that is a Twitter feed. They could be one-sided, harsh, and ultimately shut down any free flow of thought that started the discussion in the first place. We found that we could place the greatest amount of trust in an unaffiliated publication, with no ties to administration. 

After all, what good are these conversations if this discourse doesn’t lead to effective change in mindset, administration, and beyond? The Rival American provides a place for ideas and opinions to be born, changed, researched, and changed again, through investigative reporting, satire, podcast, social media and more. We wanted a platform to flesh out our thoughts without the risk of losing our shared primary identity: being a college student. 

As the only unaffiliated student publication on campus, we acknowledge the creative independence we have in the content we create and publish. However, with this freedom comes a moral responsibility to produce content that is relevant, accurate, and means something to this campus. 

We don’t have everything right, nor will we ever claim to, but through a process of challenging and supporting one another, we’ve created a diverse community of open-minded people who put personal development above perfection in our work.