Univers University Newspaper

Univers is the name of the University’s independent magazine and its news site, which is also dedicated to independent journalism. The name Univers was derived from the name of the sans serif font it used at the time. Since 1969, the magazine has had an independent editorial board, meaning that that it is up to the board to decide what topics it will write about in what way. For its publication and funding, however, the magazine is entirely dependent on the University, and this gives rise to tensions from time to time. University executives may prefer to see a magazine that serves to spread the gospel of good news. Proponents of independent journalism, on the other hand, point out that the magazine’s has a role to play as a platform, as a unifier amidst university fragmentation and as a critical voice that is a fundamental element of an academic community.

Independence

Journalistic independence is guaranteed in an editorial statute that stipulates that an editorial council shall play a supervisory role and mediate in case of conflicts. Conflicts do indeed occur and may involve threats of dissolution, but barring the occasional rectification this tends to be all bark and no bite. This somewhat uneasy practice, for that matter, is similar at other universities, where debates on journalistic independence also tend to be recurring with some regularity.

The name Univers dates back to 1986, when the College was renamed the Catholic University of Brabant and the name Tilburg College Magazine had outrun its usefulness. The Tilburg College Magazine first appeared in 1964, as a supplement to the announcements that, up to that point, had been exclusively made ad valvas, which is Latin for “at the doors” meaning “on the notice boards.” The magazine, so the editors wrote, owed its existence to a dearth of communication. Or as Han Loevendie, secretary of the Curatorium in those days, put it, “some windows needed opening just a little wider.” He was referring to the one and only student magazine, called Viking, edited by St Olof, which, in the eyes of a growing number of students, was a little on the tame side, even if it did manage occasionally to cause some offense to administrators or professors.

Early days

The first edition of the Tilburg College Magazine was barely any less compliant than Viking. It mainly offered summaries of lectures and meetings, still had to make do without photographs and struck only a rare critical note. Its Acadabria column presented news headlines, which may have been a little barbed sometimes. The magazine’s opening feature, however, was a highly deferential interview with Professor Plattel on the eve of his sabbatical leave. And editor Wim Boerboom ‒ later to become academic staff member and champion of the subject of Marxist economy ‒ knew how to toe the line when he had arrived on the dot for an interview with the new president curator Van Boven and was told to wait for the president to have woken up from his afternoon nap. This tone was set to change quite dramatically in the seventies, when the university magazine developed into a leftist and critical institutional watchdog, offering some piece of unwelcome news virtually every week and particularly turning the traditionalist movers and shakers into the main targets of editorial attack.

Political correctness

The present-day editors predominantly tend to struggle with the political correctness of the contemporary age: words and terms are soon considered sexist, racist or otherwise offensive to readers or university executives, which requires a new kind of editorial vigilance. The Univers editors provide everyday news to 750,000 readers annually through Universonline besides being active on social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The three-weekly magazine mainly brings background stories, in two languages, entirely as the spirit of the age requires.