The University of Waterloo has a rich history of publications, and whether inactive or still active, UW student newspapers/magazines offer entertaining content I recommend to anyone looking for something new to read or to get regular news of campus life. Though they may seem (and/or be) faculty specific, their content is open to students from all faculties, and just requires a little bit of internet searching or walking around campus to get to enjoy!
The Iron Warrior
What better way to start off than with the magazine you’re reading right now! I would do a whole “History of The Iron Warrior” article, but that’s actually already be done by Bahman Hadji way back in 2010. I highly suggest finding his article on the archives (on the Iron Warrior’s website!) to get the full origin story of The Iron Warrior.
To summarize, The Iron Warrior started off as Enginews back in 1959 as EngSoc’s newsletter to keep students updated about events on campus. Enginews was then added to The Coryphaeus and later returned as new separate paper in 1967, publishing a mix of (oftentimes questionable) humour and UW news — unfortunately, the humour went a bit too far, leading to the paper’s downfall in 1985.
Yet, quickly growing from its shadows, The Iron Warrior began in 1980 as a sister paper, publishing content on UW, professional engineering and current affairs, as well as containing cartoons, opinion pieces, and features on students, professors and design teams. A more professional (and better liked) newspaper, The Iron Warrior gained a wide reader base, and became a popular read for students across all faculties — and even outside UW! (1)
A long run and a pandemic later, The Iron Warrior still runs (though with a smaller team and less readers, courtesy of the pandemic), publishing 3-4 issues a term consisting of articles on student life, engineering, sports, academics, and whatever else we want to write about, as well as puzzles (sudokus and a crossword), a comic, Eng Prof Quotes and The Iron Inquisition, the latter of which is when a student answers to a funny question get featured on the magazine and (restarting this term!) in a reel on our Instagram account (@theironwarrior_uw). Physical copies can be found mainly in Engineering buildings, SLC, DP and DC, and articles are also published on our website (https://iwarrior.uwaterloo.ca/).
Imprint
This is probably the newspaper you’ll notice more frequently on campus, and for good reason — this is the official UW student magazine. If you look around campus, their issues are distributed to most buildings (and are also online!); you can still find some of their issues from Spring term!
Imprint has been publishing since 1978, but long before, it started as The Coryphaeus and later on as The Chevron, turning into the newspaper that we notice almost anywhere we go on campus these days. Similar to Iron Warrior, you can find a crossword, as well as more general articles on UW and regional news. Imprint’s staff actually consists of both students and non-students, and for those of you interested in joining a newspaper club, Imprint has volunteer and paid contributor roles for students on campus! (2)
mathNEWS
One of my favourite publications, mathNEWS, as the name suggests, are publications made by undergraduate math students, and can be found online or (if you know where to look on MC’s 3rd floor, near the MathSoc office) as physical magazines.
mathNEWS came to life at a Winter 1973 meeting where students decided to make a math newspaper organization, leading to one of UW’s longest running student papers that, to this day, still that reflects the creativity and voices of UW’s math students (3). Within its pages you will find interesting pseudonyms, unique first page articles, calendars (you don’t often see those in magazines), and best of all, many, many, MANY articles/segments on whatever the editors feel like writing about, including shows, MathSoc news, interviews with professors and staff, university courses, Prof Quotes and (of course) math, ranging from 1 sentence lines to 2-3 page articles. Most of us have been told over and over again “quality over quantity”, but mathNEWS does quantity AND quality so well that you’re sure to get a laugh out of at least 1 article. If you’re interested in learning more or joining, find your way into one of their mysterious Production Nights…
Dark Matter
If you could guess it from the name, Dark Matter is SciSoc’s online student magazine. Connecting the science faculty, society, and clubs, Dark Matter features SciSoc’s news of its clubs’ events and showcases of the many things students and professors are up to. The newest issue (at the time of writing) came out September 22nd, so take a look at it! (4)
Journal of Undergraduate Health Research
Founded in 2021 by 2 undergraduate Health Studies students, the University of Waterloo Journal of Undergraduate Health Research is an online publication which features peer-reviewed health research done by undergraduate students, providing incentive and a first step into the world of health research for interested students (5).
Bonus: The Radicle
Sadly, this online magazine’s run ended in 2023; but its articles are still pretty interesting. The Radicle, starting as a grassroots initiative by Environment students in Fall 2019, became the digital magazine for Environment students. Named after a radicle (the first part of a seedling to emerge from a plant seed), The Radicle was a platform for entertainment, news, environmental advocacy and more. Their Instagram and website are still active, and there you will find their archives (6).
Extra Bonus: UW Current
What: New student publication, featuring groundbreaking research at UW, global health trends and student perspectives. Who: In collaboration with UW Pre-Medical Society. Why: Inform, inspire and connect the next generation of healthcare leaders. Where/When: Find out by subscribing to their newsletter mailing list from their website https://uwpremed.clubs.wusa.ca/uw-current/, and following the Instagram @uwaterloocurrent! (7)
When doing my initial research back in July (when I originally got curious how many student newspapers were on campus), I ended up categorizing the different publications of UW: for students, for alumni, inactive, active, only online, physical and online…I thought I had found every single one, but apparently there’s more (that I found out about while writing this article, lol)! If you’re really curious, I challenge you to find the others! Hint: Read a certain Imprint article from August…
Have a great reading week, and good luck on midterms! WE GOT THIS, WARRIORS! 🙂
References:
(1) https://iwarrior.uwaterloo.ca/2010/11/17/5566/our-unique-newspaper-%E2%80%93-since-1980/
(2) https://uwimprint.ca/about-us/
(3) https://mathnews.uwaterloo.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/mathNEWS-151-1.pdf
(4) https://uwaterloo.ca/science-society/dark-matter-0
(5) https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JUHR/about
(6) https://theradicle.home.blog/
(7) https://uwpremed.clubs.wusa.ca/uw-current/
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