UNDERGRADUATE PAGE
A Hundred Not Out
By LAURENCE ADKINS (Downing College, Cambridge)
AWEEK ago a group of Cambridge undergraduates got together in their three-roomed office—second floor back—subbed the news, laid out the news-pages. and generally carried out the hundred and one odd jobs which go to producing a newspaper. Reporters were out on last-minute news-stories or assigned to late-night meetings, and at six o'clock on Friday evening the editor with his assistants moved down to the premises of the local press. Towards midnight the pages started rolling off, and on Saturday morning Varsity, the weekly undergraduate newspaper, was on sale at the bookstalls for the hundredth time.
Since that day in April four years ago when Varsity first came out, it has been published each Saturday eight times a term.
Even during the difficulties created by the printers' dispute last year, when the local newspaper was unable to print the paper for a month, it came out all the same, first ;n a four-page emergency edition and then in its normal size of twelve pages at a press twenty miles away For amateur journalists the task presented by a change-over in lay-out and type was at once a nightmare and an exhilarating experience. Circulation has risen to a steady 6,500—almost one for every member of the university. In the early days it was next to nothing; and copies had to be hawked around the streets and lecture-rooms by the staff itself, because newsagents were unwilling to handle what they thought was just another undergraduate magazine, which in a few weeks' time would disappear from the scene leaving only bad debts behind. Certainly their reluctance was not unjustified, for maga- zines by undergraduates here have an unfortunate habit of making a grand stage entrance only to fade away in a lamentable, and sometimes lamented, exit.
The newsagents were not the only people to be dubious. Frank Owen, editor of the Daily Mail, warned in the first issue that " it takes a brave man to launch a new journal these days. beset as newspapermen are by rising costs, restricted newsprint and an enquiring Press Commission." The first editors of Varsity weren't quite sure whether they were brave or foolish, but they did know that they were determined, and that they had a belief in 'a responsibility to the community for which the paper existed. Perhaps, too, they were fortunate in that they wrote to G. B. S. for advice, and in reply received one of his famous post- cards severely rapping them on the knuckles: " Why do you young Varsity men always begin your novel enterprises by addressing yourselves to the very old who cannot be of any use to you? Leave the old in peace: their bolts are shot."
As a newspaper it has qualities all its own. Cynics, of course. may point out that it has as yet to be blooded, for it has still to figure in a libel action ; but the historian glancing through its files will now and then come upon the discreet apology which would seem to indicate that such an action has perhaps been touch and go. Nevertheless Varsity is more proud of two characteristics which are unusual—itS unquestionable yet elusive independence and its spirit of co-operation. No one owns it and no one sponsors it. either financially or editorially. A new editor is elected each term by the retiring executive and takes over nominal ownership, and each term the new editor proclaims the independent policy of the newspaper. Critics who believe they see left- or right-wing bias are apt to smile at this pro- nouncement ; but, though the editor will speak his mind and ride a pet hobby-horse, the next week will see the opposite point of view given greater space on the letter-page, while next term will probably see a complete reversal of editorial opinion. To the general public, so used to expect the party line from its paper, such a state of affairs would be bewildering ; but how else could it be on Varsity when members of the staff are Socialist, Con- servative and Liberal, heretic and Christian, utopian and revolu- tionary, sportsman and .aesthete, lowbrow, highbrow and what have you? Varsity provides a forum for all opinions, and it is always the reader who has the last word.
One of its early editorials stated: " We believe we can per- form an important function in the university and provide a link between the university authorities and the undergraduates. II will be our duty to foster a sense of unity." It was a bold state- ment.• University authorities were at first openly antagonistic or justifiably shy. Gradually, when they became convinced of its sincerity and seriousness of purpose, university authorities were persuaded to become less stubborn. Heads of departments will now talk more freely, while the University Health Service, for instance, despite the customary caution of all medical bodies, will willingly entrust news of a polio case to the paper, certain that it will be handled responsibly and without sensation.
Without doubt the role of Varsity within the university will undergo many changes. From the start editorials have criticised and made suggestions about such thorny topics as lectures, the examination system, lodging-houses and proctorial discipline.
Whether that role becomes more active remains to be seen. Recently a definite attempt was made to conduct an under- graduate panel of research into the problems of supervisions, lectures and examinations, with a view to providing useful in- formation for the university authorities. At the same time a detailed Gallup poll was run on students' opinions on Korea and the use of the atom bomb, while, when it seemed possible that there might be a contested election for the new Chancellor lait November, there was little doubt that Varsity was prepared to take sides. Some felt that all this wasn't Varsity's function. that opinion polls were discreditable, and that what they wanted was " eleven pages of comic-strip and one of photographs." The debate continues, not in any theoretical discussion, but in the day-to-day working-out between the newspaper and its readers. A " happy medium " seems likely.
Whatever happens, Varsity will be a source of fascinating research in the future for the historian or the merely curious. Its library of over 3,000 photographs alone will be valuable. In one issue one can read of a Royal visit, of the gentleman who stared at the ceiling for an hour during an examination and then walked out, and of the night-climber who pht a kettle on. King's College Chapel. The personal column will disclose many curiosities. among them the moving notice revealing a tragedy of rustication: " Mr. A— B— regrets that, owing to circumstances over which he has no control, he will be unable to keep his engage- ments," or the plainly irreligious note which appeared during a Mission Week: " C.U. Cannibal Club, triennial banquet. Great St. Mary's, November 27th. Dress optional." - But for the present Varsity continues to be read. The reason for the rise to its present circulation is not difficult to find. It is because Varsity provides the undergraduate with the news and views of his fellow-undergraduates. At a time when the student population of Cambridge tops the inflated level- -of seven thousand ; when the college system has largely broken down when only one year in three is spent in college, so that it is possible to go through one's career without khoWing some members of your own college even ; when the scientist seldom comes in contact with his fellow-scientist, let alone the humanist—at such a time Varsity acts as the undergraduate's eyes and ears. News about the university is there for all to read. The undergraduate of one college knows what is going on in another college the actor can, if he wishes, find out what is happening in the sport or rowing World ; the tutor and super- visor can judge the temper and interests of the undergraduates- in short, Varsity provides that sense of unity, of belonging to a corporate body, the university, which is a part of any university education. Without it Cambridge would be a mass of separate groups knowing little, or nothing about each other. For that reason alone, whatever the type of wicket it has to bat on in the future, Varsity seems good for a few more hundreds.
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