The Brunswickan
Name: The Brunswickan
Previous/other names: University Monthly (1882-1922)
Prominent date(s) of activity: 1867, 1882 - present
Role/purpose: A change in student government in 1922 also entailed a change in the constitution of university publications and led to a redesign and renaming of the University Monthly (UM) to The Brunswickan. It also created a shift in focus, with the publication now defined as "the Students' Magazine" instead of the prior focus on promoting the university outside of the campus. The publication focused on student activities and campus events, as well as issues affecting students provincially and nationwide.
History: Early attempts at the publishing of an official university paper first began in 1867, but the efforts to sustain such a publication fell short until P.E. Cliff published the first volume of the University Monthly in March 1882. He recognized the need for a university paper because other universities in the Maritimes—such as Dalhousie and Mount Allison—had established their own papers. Cliff believed that the University Monthly could awaken public interest in the University, which often had to defend its classical education against claims that it was out of touch with the goals of New Brunswick. "...our aim shall be that it shall be known and favorably known to the many, and that the poorest shall be led to see that the country's interest consists in having it efficiently maintained." The University Monthly declared that it would not only be a place for literary discussion, but it would also be an agent of change, helping to reform the academic system and to improve the college library, among other various projects.
Published on the last Thursday of the month, a subscription to the University Monthly was $0.50 per term. It declared itself a "Journal devoted to Literature, Science and General Information," intent on filling the lack of such publications in the province. The motto of the editorial column was "non nobis sed patriae" ("Not for ourselves but for our country").
Note(s): The Brunswickan is the oldest student publication in Canada.
In 1939 the Co-eds (female students) took control of the Brunswickan for Co-ed Week, producing the first Co-ed edition of the paper.
In the early 1940s special editions of the Brunswickan were edited and published by the Engineering Society and the Forestry Society, and this custom occurred annually for years to follow.
Source(s):
- Up the Hill, 1939, Organizations.
- Up the Hill, 1942, Organizations.
- The Brunswickan, vol. 60, no. 15, 14 February 1941, p. 3.
- University Monthly, vol. 4, no. 8, May 1885, p. 113-144.
- University Monthly, vol. 1, no. 1, March 1882, p. 1.
- The Brunswickan, vol. 42, no. 1, October 1922, p. 1-2.
- Montague, Susan. A Pictorial History of the University of New Brunswick. Fredericton: University of New Brunswick, 1992, p. 233.
© UNB Archives & Special Collections, 2014