140 YEARS OF
STORY BY EAMON DUNN & PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY THE SILVER SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY
On any given day during the academic year , thousands of students make their way through the University of Vermont ’ s campus . Set against the vibrant colors of autumnal leaves , heavy piles of snow , or the sweet smell of blooming flowers , they run late to class , carrying a laptop in their tote bag and a coffee in hand . Students are there to attend class , of course , but beyond that , they also go to band practices or niche club meetings . And a collection of these students go off to report on different events or meet with a source for their latest story . They write opinion pieces or report on the university ’ s latest breaking news , whether it be covering a board of trustee meeting — or an article about why you should smile more . These students are the members and lifeblood of The Vermont Cynic , UVM ’ s student-run weekly newspaper . The publication was first introduced to the UVM community in the spring of 1883 , and this year , is celebrating its 140th anniversary .
However , The Cynic we read now is very different from how it first started . Originally named The University Cynic , the publication was far from a traditional newspaper . It published poetry and pieces of literature , resembling something closer to what we might consider a literary magazine than a newspaper . ( Now UVM runs student work in a separate entity , The Gist .) Among the poems and essays published in the original issues of the Cynic , there were
20 VERMONT MAGAZINE also book reviews and a section devoted to science . In the beginning , the Cynic didn ’ t allow women editors to work for them . Until women were allowed to become members of the staff in 1901 , they ran a separate on-campus annual publication called Women ’ s Number .
The Cynic ’ s first issue !
Additionally , these first issues had no ads . In the early 1900s , advertisements were added . Among articles about sports games and University politics , you could find advertisements for things like Turkish Cigarettes and local businesses . A number of them are still around today . The Hotel Vermont , for example , which continues to stand tall in downtown Burlington , was frequently advertised in The Cynic ’ s pages . For a while , before the inception of the internet and access to major news outlets , The Cynic also acted as a main source of news for the student body , covering not just campus and local news , but reporting events from across the world . The paper has also been an outlet for UVM ’ s community to express its grief , frustration , and hope .
During the first World War , The Cynic reported on the impact of the war on campus . One 1917 headline read , “ Martial Spirit Rules University of Vermont ’ s 114th Commencement .” When WWI came to an end in November of 1918 , The Cynic published a piece about a parade of faculty and students celebrating the coming peace . Leading up to the second World War , The Cynic published pieces about the conflict overseas and gave voice to the sense of anxiety about whether the United States would join the war or establish its separation from it . When Congress finally did declare war in December of 1941 , it made the front page of the paper .
During World War II , The Cynic wrote about the conflict in almost every issue it published . One piece — echoing the advice of Dean Mary Jean Sumpson — encouraged students to buy more war stamps . Dean Sumpson articulated that