The Daily Illini, commonly known as the DI, is a student-run newspaper that has been published for the community of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 1871.

Also published in the first issue, an Illinois Central Railroad time table, well wishes for a newly married couple, a plea to readers to financially support the paper, its advertising rates, with one column costing $40 for one year, a list of departments of study at the university, including Mining Engineering, requirements for admission, stating that students must be at least 15 years of age, and various advertisements, including one for a “Manufacturer of Saddles and Harness” in Champaign.

Topics covered in the final issue of The Student include war and a summary of a university board meeting.

In its prospectus, the first issue of The Illini references The Student and a desire to uphold its “former interest as a lively, cheerful, home journal”.

Topics covered in the first issue of The Illini include The Bau-Akademie, an architecture school in Berlin, Germany, the classification of animals in terms of the work of the late Professor Louis Agassiz, statements made at a dedication ceremony for the campuses Adelphic Society, an account of a writer’s dream in which they wished for Ancient History exam answers instead of studying, Natural History, the time the university ran on, and a campus forest tree plantation handled by the Department of Horticulture.

[7] The editorial, business and production departments are staffed by students who are enrolled in a wide variety of degree programs, not just journalism.

[9] Notable alumni of the newspaper include author and famed New Yorker editor William Maxwell, novelist Nelson Algren, ABC News political director Hal Bruno, Rape of Nanking author Iris Chang, Simpsons producer/writer Larry Doyle, film critic Roger Ebert, novelist Dave Eggers, folk singer Dan Fogelberg, High Times editor Steven Hager, Playboy founder/CEO Hugh Hefner, attorney Albert E. Jenner Jr., columnist Robert Novak, Coast to Coast Live radio host Ian Punnett, advice columnist Dan Savage,[10] film critic Gene Shalit, author Dave Cullen, and several Pulitzer Prize winners.

[11][12][13][14] In January 2003, The Daily Illini printed a letter in its opinion section titled "Jews Manipulate America.

[18] Previous letters published in The Daily Illini have accused Israel of being guilty of genocide and another compared the Jews to Nazis.

[18] In December 2003, the paper published an article by Miriam Sobh called "Stop Turning a Blind Eye" [19] that contained a quote attributed to Ariel Sharon that was fabricated.

[22] The newspaper's former editor-in-chief Acton Gorton and opinions editor Chuck Prochaska made a controversial decision in February 2006 to print the cartoons from the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy that had previously been printed in Europe and had led to protests around the world and a few instances of violent rioting by offended Muslims.

[27] However, even with the new guidelines, on November 29, 2006, the newspaper printed an editorial[28] calling Representative Charles B. Rangel a Republican when describing his draft bill.

In February 2012, The Daily Illini enlisted the help of University of Illinois alumnus and film critic Roger Ebert to raise funds for the newspaper.

[30] As the paper is funded and published by the Illini Media Company, it receives money from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign via mandatory student fees.