''The Bates Student'', established in 1873, is the
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...
of
Bates College
Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...
in
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, the state's capital, and Portland, the state's most populous ci ...
, run entirely by students. It is one of the oldest continuously-published college weeklies in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and claims to be the oldest co-ed college weekly in the nation.
Circulation
Approximately 1,900 copies of ''The Student'' are printed every week and distributed to hundreds of alumni, parents, and other friends of the college. The paper is published each Wednesday while classes are in session and can be found in distribution boxes located in Common, Ladd Library, Pettingill Hall, the Den and Post and Print. Faculty and staff also have the option to request copies delivered through intercampus mail. ''The Student'' has been intermittently online since the late 1990s. Once a year, usually at the end of the year, ''The Student'' runs a spoof edition commonly known as the "Bates Spudent."
History
''The Bates Student'' was founded as a combination of the college's newspaper and literary magazine and as a successor to earlier publications such as the ''Seminary Advocate'' (1855–1863) and ''College Courant'' (ca. 1864-1872). ''The Bates Student'' was founded in 1873 in the years following the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. It describes itself as "the nation's oldest continuously ''co-ed college'' weekly," although this assertion has been contested. Since many college newspapers were founded around the same time, there have been competing claims for which one was the oldest or the first in the United States. For example, ''
The Bowdoin Orient
''The Bowdoin Orient'' is the student newspaper of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, United States. Established in 1871, the ''Orient'' is the oldest continuously-published college weekly in the United States. It was named the second best tab ...
'', founded two years earlier in 1871, claims to be the "oldest continuously-published college weekly", but Bowdoin was an all-male school; the ''
Yale Daily News'' claims to be the "oldest college daily"; the ''
Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than ...
'', also founded in 1873, claims to "the nation's oldest continuously published daily college newspaper"; ''
The Dartmouth
''The Dartmouth'' is the daily student newspaper at Dartmouth College and America's oldest college newspaper. Originally named the ''Dartmouth Gazette'', the first issue was published on August 27, 1799, under the motto "Here range the world— ...
'' began in 1843 as a monthly and tries to claim institutional continuity with a local eighteenth-century paper called the ''Dartmouth Gazette''. Accordingly, ''The Bates Student'' has claimed that it is the oldest continuously-published weekly newspaper from a ''co-educational'' college. In the late 19th century, the paper was published on a bi-weekly basis, and in the early 20th century, it was published on a weekly basis.
[Anthony, Alfred Williams, ''Bates College and Its Background'', (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1936).] It has been published continuously and without interruption during each academic year since 1873.
Among its earliest editors and writers in the 1870s were African Americans and women. The paper's was originally formatted in a smaller literary magazine layout and included literary works such as poems and fiction alongside news reports. In 1879, the literary society formed a separate publication called ''The Garnet'', and thereafter ''The Student'' focused primarily on news.
In the early twentieth century, the paper abandoned the smaller literary magazine format and adopted a larger
broadsheet layout.
Archives are kept at the offices of ''The Bates Student'' (with issues dating back to 1873) as well as the college's library, with its Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collection Library, which has a nearly complete archive of past issues in print form. The library also has issues of the ''Seminary Advocate'' and ''College Courant'' dating back to the 1850s and 1860s.
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Generally the newspaper has been the primary newspaper for the college, although it had some competition when ''The John Galt Press'' was being published at Bates. In addition, the Maine College Republicans and Democrats also distributed their own college newspapers for a few brief years in the past but these have not been published in many years.
In 2021, a group of students created a petition accusing the college administration of forcing ''The Student'' to remove an article which detailed alleged anti-union actions by the college and replace it with an article that focused on anti-union arguments. The newspaper published a statement refuting these claims, stating that it was "not coerced or censored by any member of the Bates administration, the Bates Communication Office, or any other member of the Bates community in the writing or republishing" of the article.
Notable student writers and editors
* Henry Chandler, early African American politician and attorney
*Lewis Penick Clinton
Lewis Penick Clinton (also known as Louis Penick Clinton and Prince Somayou Zea Clayou) (born 1865 or 1866) was a Prince of the Bassa people in West Africa (Liberia) and later an African American missionary and lecturer.The Literary Digest, Volu ...
, Bassa prince and African missionary
* Louis B. Costello, Maine newspaperman
*Bryant Gumbel
Bryant Charles Gumbel (born September 29, 1948) is an American television journalist and sportscaster, best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's '' Today''. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel. Since 1995, he has hosted ...
, sports columnist and broadcaster
*Ella Knowles Haskell
Ella Knowles Haskell (July 31, 1860 – January 27, 1911) was an American lawyer, suffragist, and politician. Born in New Hampshire, she moved to Montana to improve her health following a bout of tuberculosis and there became the first woman t ...
, Attorney, and first woman to argue a U.S. Supreme Court case
*Noah Levick
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
, columnist at NBC Sports Philadelphia
* Carolyn Ryan, Managing Editor at the New York Times
References
*Anthony, Alfred Williams, ''Bates College and Its Background'', (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1936).
External links
*
Text of 1877-78 ''Bates Student'' on Google Book Search
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates Student, The
Bates College
Student newspapers published in Maine
Mass media in Lewiston, Maine
Publications established in 1873
1873 establishments in Maine