The Bates Student - History

History

The Bates Student was one of many college newspapers founded shortly after the Civil War and describes itself as "the nation's oldest continuously co-ed college weekly," although this fact is hotly contested among other college newspapers.

The Bates Student, founded in 1873, was originally a newspaper and literary magazine, as a successor to the Seminary Advocate (1855–1863) and College Courant (ca. 1864-1872). Among its earliest editors and writers in the 1870s were African Americans and women. Originally issued bi-weekly, it has been a weekly since the early twentieth century. It is one of the oldest continuously-published college weeklies in the U.S., which means that it has been in publication every academic year that Bates has been in session since it began publishing weekly.

The Student was originally laid out in a smaller literary magazine format and included literary material such as poems and fiction alongside its news. In 1879, the literary society formed its own publication, The Garnet, and The Student has primarily focused on reporting news. In the early twentieth century, the Student abandoned the literary magazine format and moved to a larger broadsheet layout in keeping with the times.

The Student office has its own archives, with issues dating back to 1873. The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collection Library at Bates College has a nearly complete archive of past Student issues in print. The library also has issues of the Seminary Advocate and College Courant dating back to the 1850s and 1860s.

The Student endured some short-lived competition when "The John Galt Press" was being published at Bates, but The Student is currently the college's only campus publication. The Maine College Republicans and Democrats also distributed their college newspapers briefly at Bates but have not done so in quite some time.