''Varsity'' is the official student

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 the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

(UCT). In 1942, the first edition of ''Varsity'' went to print.

History

The paper was founded as a result of the burgeoning cultural tensions on campus between

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

and English students. The student representative council (SRC) sought to control these tensions by uniting the English student newspaper ''UCTattle'' and the Afrikaans medium publication ''Die Spantou''. The SRC aimed to lessen the widening gap in political opinion advocated by each of these mouthpieces by launching a bilingual student newspaper. A storm of controversy met the decision to abolish the original papers. The first ''Varsity'' constitution even had a clause forbidding comment on politics at UCT. The SRC was firm that "racial friction and political bitterness must be eliminated". The SRC took ''Varsity'' Newspaper firmly under its wing, with much indignation from the student body. The first editor, NC Gracie, chose the name claiming UCT had the right to the name "being the oldest niversitywith the most inspiring record and the greatest tradition of tolerance and unity". The newspaper grew in popularity as the years went on, and developed independence from the SRC, no longer merely acting as a puppet press. The paper maintained a spirit of liberalism during the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

years, with successive editors jailed and many editions incensing the National Party government. In fact, ''Varsity'' provided an important function during the years of

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

since it operated under different constraints to the mainstream press who were often shackled and prevented from reporting on the country's growing liberation struggle. Many former staffers at ''Varsity'' have continued to work in the media industry in South Africa. The current Editor-in-Chief of ''Varsity'' is Chloe Kingdom and the Deputy Editor is Lerato Botha.''Varsity'' V. 74 E. 1 24 February 2015

References

External links

''Varsity'' Online
Student newspapers published in South Africa University of Cape Town Mass media in Cape Town 1942 establishments in South Africa Newspapers established in 1942 {{SouthAfrica-newspaper-stub

History

See also

References

External links