Originally published at The Student Review by Hunter Schwarz and shared here with permission.
The first issue of the revamped Student Review will create buzz across campus when it is published in September, but it will hardly be the first time that sort of excitement was felt at Brigham Young University over an independent student paper.
BYU’s first newspaper was created before it was even a university. In 1891, students at Brigham Young Academy, as it was called at the time, read the BYA Student, a paper “managed exclusively by the students.” The paper lasted five months.
In 1897, the White and Blue published its first issue, running such controversial stories as words grandmothers would be shocked to hear their college-aged granddaughters say (Some of the phrases were “dog gone,” “rubber neck” and “hot time”).
The White and Blue soon changed its name to the Y News. In the early 1930s, conflict with university administration over a controversial story led to the resignation of the staff. For the rest of the year, the paper was run by the forerunner to today’s BYUSA. Editorial control was returned to the paper the following year, but editors were carefully screened. In 1948, the paper got a final name change—the Universe—and in 1955, slapped Daily in front of it when it began publishing five days a week.
In the 1960s, protest and unrest rocked college campuses across the nation. BYU President Ernest Wilkinson was worried about preserving the university from “the world,” and hoped it could be “an island of tranquility in a sea of violent turbulence.” Among the efforts put forth to ensure this was tightening control over the Universe.
In 1962, the student editor resigned after the paper was criticized for running stories about BYU students who committed crimes (they were pressured to write about the crimes, but make no mention the perpetrators were BYU students) and editorials critical of the student government candidates.
“If editorial comment is to be curtailed, there is no need for an editor,” wrote Paul Richards, the editor, after resigning. “An advertising staff can publish a bulletin board.”
In a 1969 administrative memo, topics deemed unsuitable for publication in the Universe were discussed including war, morals, economics, social problems, law, crime and punishment, housing and “other issues as may be identified by the Board of Trustees.” There was even talk of changing the paper from a student-run publication to one edited by the administration. The dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications, Lorin Wheelwright, said if that course of action was taken, however, the university could “expect some form of underground student paper to arise with a tremendous following.”
Such independent papers had popped up from time to time. The Student Statesmen (1962), The Olive Lead (1968), Zion’s Opinion (1969), Logos (1969), and The Centennial Free Press (1975) were among the initial attempts, but none had a sustainable run. It wasn’t until 1981 that Wheelwright’s prophecy of a wildly popular underground paper came true. That year, the Seventh East Press was published and established itself as the most successful of the student-initiated independent newspapers yet.
The paper started when student Ron Priddis sold his car to initially finance the project. Surprisingly, the administration allowed the paper to be distributed on campus as long as it did not publish content that violated the honor code. Student subscriptions of $2.50 a semester and campus sales of a dime a copy bolstered the funding provided by donations and ads. After a series of controversial articles, however, the top advertiser, BYU’s student government, cut ties with the paper in 1983, essentially killing it.
The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges said that although the paper’s demise didn’t risk the university’s accreditation, it was worrisome.
“If the practice of banning conflicting points of view becomes widespread and [restricts] faculty and students in their pursuit of truth, the accreditation of an institution is jeopardized,” the organization said.
In 1986, the original Student Review began. More than 60 students showed up to an informational meeting after seeing flyers across campus that asked ”Tired of the Universe?” Learning from the mistakes of the Press and making the most of new technology like personal computers and desktop publishing software, the Review quickly became the biggest independent newspaper in BYU history.
The Review reached an off-campus circulation peak of 10,000 and was a hit with students. Its humorous columns and features kept the student body laughing, while articles on topics the Universe wasn’t allowed to touch kept them thinking. In 1990, the Review contributed to taking down the congressional campaign of Karl Snow, a BYU faculty member, when they published a story investigating his business practices. In 1993, Review staffers received threatening phone calls after running controversial story about BYU athletes and the honor code that the Universe rejected. Hundreds of papers were stolen in an attempt to keep the story from reaching reader’s eyes.
In 1997, the Review printed its last issue. Since then, various students have attempted underground publications or blogs, but limited or non-existent business plans and small groups of students working on them limited their run.
After 14 years without an independent newspaper with the same level of reach as the Student Review, a group of dedicated students have worked this summer to bring it back. Learning the lessons of their predecessors and aided by online publishing and communication technology, the revived Review promises to surpass previous publications in its readership and value it adds to the BYU student community.
Want to know more? Check out The Lord’s University: Freedom and Authority at BYU by Bkrkyan Waterman and Brian Kagel.
