History of Student Publications At UW

When you think of publications at UW, most would probably think about Imprint, mathNEWS, and Iron Warrior. A plethora of publications have graced UW throughout the years, each with their own history of how they came to be where they are today. Some are dead, some are alive, but what’s most important is the fact they existed.

EngiNews: 1958 to 1985

EngiNews is the oldest publication founded at UW, being created in 1958 by the Engineering Society (EngSoc). Students may not be familiar with this publication, because it doesn’t exist anymore. While most of the content of EngiNews is not accessible online, what is certain from the archives of other publications is the reason for EngiNews shut down.

Poor choices were made when EngiNews tried to take a humorous approach to the publication. “One of UW’s oldest newspapers ceased publication due to pressure from the university administration and women’s groups, alarmed with that they call the ‘sexist and racist’ content of the monthly engineering tabloid,” as written in an Imprint article in January 1986.

UW banned EngiNews from campus in 1983, which meant the end of EngiNews, never to be seen or heard from again… or so UW thought. The ban meant little to the publication, as it was kept alive with secret funding and production by former EngSoc president Denis Van Dekker. At this time, EngSoc, still interested in the paper, put advertisements in to support production costs. EngSoc attempted to change the format and work on the glaring issues of EngiNews, however, issues fell short of what was demanded by administration. After this attempt, administration had enough and went so far as to threaten the closing of EngSoc, should EngiNews continue to be published. Two years later in 1985, EngiNews ceased publishing entirely. EngSoc turned their focus to the Iron Warrior, another more appropriate engineering publication that had been around for a few years at this point.

mathNEWS: 1973 – Present

What is one thing that UW has that many other universities don’t? That’s right, a math faculty. Last year, mathNEWS celebrated their 50th anniversary with a series of issues speaking to old staff members of mathNEWS. Steve Treadwell, co-founder of the publication and president of the Math Society (MathSoc) at the time, told the origin story of mathNEWS during their anniversary issues. “It sort of felt like a good thing to do and initially started as a vehicle for MathSoc to connect to the mathies, a voice piece. We thought it could echo mathies’ views and ideas back to them and help build a very strong math identity.” There was some worry back in 1973 that ideas and interest from students would dwindle quickly, though it’s safe to say the exact opposite has occurred. Dan Schnabel, editor from 1984 to 1987, put it best: “In my mind, that was the main purpose of mathNEWS — to give everyone a good laugh. Student life could be tough and we can all use a good laugh.”

Content shifts in mathNEWS could be attributed to the ever-changing societal conditions. When asked about his opinion regarding mathNEWS currently, Tom Ivey, the editor from 1984 to 1985, responded, “It was the mid-1980s, we were mostly conservative Ontario kids fresh out of high school — some, like me, from small towns — and nobody ever wrote about being gay, queer, trans, etc., or about personal trauma, or mental or physical illness.” Today, these topics are discussed openly without fear of prejudice. Issues of mathNEWS in any decade, or year for that matter, are reflective of trends or media that have gained popularity of the time. The same could be said for any publication, but in mathNEWS, this is especially present. They know what would make an interesting read for students which is why they’re quite popular.

Imprint: 1978 – Present

Imprint’s story begins in fall 1960 with a newspaper called the Coryphaeus. Coryphaeus stuck around until 1966, at which point, it wasthe Chevron. The  achieved excellence and popularity amongst students for many years afterwards. In 1976, all of this ended when the Federation of Students (Feds; currently reformed as) shut down the Chevronsuspicions of communi amongst staff members. The Chevron had staff members, including the production manager, who were part of the Anti-Imperialist Alliance (AIA), associated with the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Lennist). Henry Hess and Neil Docherty, the staff members in question, were fired from their positions by the Feds. Feds president at the time, Shane Roberts, offered a chance for refinancing the Chevron if they took in an interim editor until a new editor could be hired. The Chevron staff were not happy by this, only wanting to rehire Hess and Docherty Chaos would ensue between the Feds and the Chevron. In one incident, the Chevron protested, and Feds Executive member Frank Klingender threw a rock, shattering the Chevron office window. This all led to a reinstatement of the Chevron in June 1977.

On March 31, 1978, Imprint came to life. Engineering students, former Chevron staff, and members from the UW journalism club rallied to create Imprint. Randy Barkman, the first editor at Imprint, commented, “The Chevron is a corrupt paper… it no longer serves the students of UW.” Imprint would be a much-needed breath of fresh air for students.

In October 1978, The Chevron met further downfall. At the Canadian University Press national conference, 37 of 41 papers voted to expel the Chevron and almost 40 per cent of UW withdrew financial support to the Chevron. Advertisers also withdrew support from the Chevron. In November, students took a vote which ruled in favour of taking away the Chevron’s office, withdrawing fees for funding and removing the Chevron’s title as the official student newspaper of UW.

Howard Fluxgold, a writer for the Globe and Mail, interviewed Chevron staff member Larry Hannant in January 1979. In the interview, Hannant declared, “We won’t tell you who our members are. The people who want to know are the state. We are a revolutionary organization, and we definitely intend to organize a revolution against the state.”

Chevron did not want to go down without a fight and launched various claims against Imprint, stating that Imprint is being controlled by the Feds, that it is undemocratic, and that contributions are not allowed in the paper. Barkman and Ciaran O’Donnell of Imprint refuted these claims in a letter to Chevron. They ended the letter by saying, “The Chevron is great at producing non-conclusions from non-facts and non-arguments. With lines like… Imprint is run by ‘notorious enemies of democratic journalism,’ the Chevron should be writing for Marvel Comics.”

Minimal funding and a final ban from campus eventually led to Chevron’s end in 1981. At this time, Imprint flourished with much appreciation from students.

Imprint did not see another major change until August 2023. Until this time, Imprint was publishing a weekly or sometimes bi-weekly newspaper. There were some issues with this format, like delayed news stories and low readership. To solve this, Imprint created a website to get stories out quicker. They also created a magazine to publish articles that would be more thorough, covering relevant topics in depth. Each magazine feature has a high level of quality and riveting content for readers to enjoy. Born from adversity and desperation, Imprint is still thriving to this day.

The Iron Warrior: 1980 – Present

The Iron Warrior is the official publication of EngSoc, created in 1980. What goes on in the minds of engineering students and which news articles are most important to them all lies here. The Iron Warrior has gone through a significant amount of change in recent years with their publication experiencing format and content changes.

The pandemic was a time that put the whole world on pause, especially for UW publications. You’ll notice this is a recurring theme. Iron Warrior had been a physical newspaper for a long time, just like Imprint. During the pandemic, this wasn’t possible, so they switched over to online articles. Even after coming back to campus in 2021, they continued with online articles, because there was a lack of staff experienced with the production of physical copies. It was only until fall 2023 that physical copies of the Iron Warrior came back, this time in magazine format.

Throughout the past terms, The Iron Warrior produced pieces based on what their writers are interested in, with engineering-related pieces mixed in. Under the EngSoc’s direction, publications now focus more on engineering news or pieces that engineering students would find important. Staff writers can still write about topics that interest them.

When asked about the inspiration for their name, editor-in-chief for the spring term Athavan Gananathan said it was likely was inspired by the iron ring engineering graduates receive, combined with UW’s mascot, King Warrior.

Voices: 1995 – Present

The Voices anthology has been up and running since 1995 by the Women’s Centre. An annual publication, each issue is published by International Women’s Day (March 8). This magazine is an outlet for students to express themselves through various artistic mediums. It could be artwork, photography, poetry, or short stories that students choose.

EconSoc publications: Active since 2016

UW’s Economics Society (EconSoc) hosts two publications: a newsletter and online articles. Their articles have been up and running since September 2016, with newsletters joining production in September 2020. The newsletter is biweekly, reporting on macroeconomic indicators like the unemployment rate, gross domestic product, and consumer price index with authors’ commentary. It also mentions the various economic events that have taken place over the past few weeks. As for the articles, they are generally any story that is related to economics that writers would like to cover, from the Russo-Ukrainian War to Taylor Swift’s economic impact — the sky is the limit.

Benjamin Pipicelli, vice-president of economic research for EconSoc, shared the idea behind the newsletters and articles. “It was just trying to expand the economic society and the easiest way to do that is to get more people interested in economics and how you do that is by teaching people about basic economic concepts. So that was the function of the newsletter. The article was more [of] a creative outlet for people.”

There haven’t been many significant changes to EconSoc’s publications from September 2016 to now. Staying stagnant has its perks, as the publication didn’t have to face the many struggles that other publications did.

Her Campus: Active since 2017

Her Campus is an online publication that is part of a larger company, having a chapter here at UW that started in September 2017.

“It was created for females to have this online space to talk about their unique college experiences together and sort of like that unifying bond amongst females across North America at different schools… you can honestly just join because we don’t want to make it like, you have to be a perfect writer, or you even had to write before,” said Naomi Francis, president of the UW chapter from 2023 to 2024.

The content falls into one of five categories: life, fashion, culture, her 20s, and mental health and wellness. Her Campus articles are released weekly, with writers being allowed to write whatever they want or following the theme of the week.

Her Campus did see significant changes during the pandemic, much like other publications. Prior to the pandemic, Her Campus was lively, with lots of pieces released frequently. During the pandemic, activity quieted down immensely, with fewer writers, less social media posts, and less content coming out. This inspired Francis to become the president to restore the once active presence of Her Campus. Her diligent work was fruitful, once again having consistent writers and articles coming out like pre-pandemic days.

Creators Collective Edition: Active since 2019

Creators Collective Edition is a magazine publication that goes hand in hand with a themed gallery that is held at the Stratford campus for a few weeks. Started in fall 2019 by global business and digital arts students, the magazine is released every fall and winter term, with each term having a set theme. In the most recent issue, winter 2024’s theme was Written in the Stars. The Creators Collective is made possible with funding from the UW Arts Endowment Fund. Students submit art under the theme and include their own statement on the piece. Pieces submitted include illustrations, photography, sculpture, clothes, poetry, videos, and live performances.

The printed format is essential to Creators Collective as said by editor-in-chief Jacquelyn Yu, “The founders wanted to give students an opportunity to see their work in a printed format, because we can share our pieces on Instagram and social media. That’s how a lot of new artists have been discovered, but there’s just something kind of satisfying about being able to see your artwork and feel your artwork in person.”

Creators Collective, much like Her Campus, found trouble as the pandemic rolled around. Unlike Her Campus, Creators Collective was only active for less than a year before the pandemic hit. Even still, they tried to adapt to the changing format by hosting virtual galleries and magazines. As for other changes, the number of submissions has gone up over time, resulting in almost double the number of pages compared to the first year of production. The formats expanded from visual art to including the many other media listed previously. They started to explore writing with a new section called Creator’s Spotlight, a chance for artists to talk about their work and process. Faculty have spoken on their own art in the Spotlight too.

WAT is Zine?: Active since 2019

WAT is Zine? is an online magazine club operating since 2019, having produced 38 issues so far. Each magazine issue has a theme, like time travel and transformation. As of writing this article, the current theme is unthemed. This magazine features a Spotify playlist for the respective theme of the magazine issue. From their submissions page, they feature a wide range of content like poetry, short fiction, short articles, artwork, photography, original recipes, comics, original sheet music and song lyrics, and anything else beyond that scope. They usually publish monthly, with the occasional gap in between issues.

Journal for Undergraduate Health Research: 2021 to 2022

The Journal for Undergraduate Health Research (JUHR) was founded in 2021 by Tara Behroozian and Shayanne Thomas, both undergraduate health students at the time. This publication sets itself apart from others as it published peer-reviewed research. The website states that it welcomed works for publication that fall under “health studies, biomedical sciences, public and population health, kinesiology, recreation and leisure.” Students from any faculty could make submissions to the journal. Although founded in 2021, the first issue was not published until January 2022. The second and final issue came out in November 2022. This was a beneficial opportunity for students to publish peer-reviewed research, a chance that isn’t common for undergraduate students. To be able to establish yourself in research before you enter graduate studies would give a massive boost to one’s career. Unfortunately, JUHR ceasing publication meant that this resource is long gone.

ENGnews: 2022 to 2023

The most recently released, ENGnews, not to be confused with EngiNews, is another publication featured in UW. Before we go further, on their website, ENGnews states that they are “not affiliated with the University of Waterloo, or the Engineering Society of the University of Waterloo.” They are still being included because according to their website, they had copies on campus in DC, E5, E7, and RCH.

ENGnews was discontinued and ran for five months from September 2022 to January 2023. New copies were published monthly. The exception to this is December 2022, which did not see a new issue released. They stated that the fifth issue would be out around mid-February 2023, but this issue was never released.

The style of ENGnews, to put it simply, is similar in content and format to mathNEWS. It hosts the same goofy poems, prof quotes, articles, rankings, and even a crossword at the end.