Scarlet & Black (cover page) Aprill 22, 2024
This striking cover of the S&B (this week), drew attention to budget cuts that threatened to end the 130-year tradition of print publication of the newspaper (which for many years, carried the tagline “Oldest College Newspaper West of the Mississippi River in its headline banner). It may be interesting to note that this is not the first time the publication has battled with the administration, printers, or budget cuts to keep the presses going. The 1960s, in particular, witnessed several battles unfold on these fronts…

“The Grinnell Reporter” (cover page) May 19, 1967

The college refused to allow students to publish the 1966 yearbook because it contained language and images they found inappropriate. The editors and staff of the S&B decided, therefore, to suspend publication of the newspaper, issuing this special edition under the name “The Grinnell Reporter” to announce that they would not resume printing the newspaper until the President reversed the decision regarding the yearbook.

Two years later, the S&B would face a new series of battles…

Scarlet & Black (mimeographed cover pages) Nov 21st & Dec 5th, 1969

An anti-war editorial, and some reprinted articles from the student magazine, Pterodactyl, caused the Newton printer, E.K. Shaw, to refuse to continue printing the college newspaper, and it took several weeks to find an alternative printer for the paper.