The Ontarion
The
first Ontarion student
newspaper was published on campus March 29, 1951. The lead story included
this photo of OAC students wielding shovels in the basement of Massey
Hall to make way for a student lounge. Another story summarized the findings
of a research project that compared commercial mix cakes with homemade.
The newspaper was intended to serve students at all three founding colleges. One early editor reported that the paper's name came from the idea that the three schools might one day become the University of Ontario.
The Ontarion has changed over the years, reflecting changes on campus and in society, as well as the individuality of each new editor.
Following the social club atmosphere of the 1950s, the 1960s Ontarion editors tried to stir up controversy with articles about communism and boarding houses that advertised "whites preferred." One issue in fall 1970 was confiscated by the RCMP at the printers because it contained a bulletin with the FLQ manifesto - illegal under the War Measures Act.
Later editors have varied the focus from news and intellectual discussion to letters and opinion pieces in an effort to hear all voices on campus. One 1990s editor told students: "If you don't like what we're doing with the paper, you can volunteer to help change it . . . . It's your paper."
After 50 years of publication, the Ontarion is still one of the few completely autonomous student newspapers in the country.