Sinds de jaren zeventig van de twintigste eeuw kennen Nederlandse universiteiten kranten met redacties van professionele journalisten. Ze brengen nieuws over wat de universiteit, medewerkers en studenten raakt, en bieden een platform voor opinie en debat. De onafhankelijkheid van deze media lijkt in toenemende mate onder druk te staan. Toch ging de ontwikkeling van de universitaire pers vanaf het begin gepaard met spanningen. Welke rol speelden studentenbladen en universiteitsbrede voorlopers van de onafhankelijke kranten? Hoe veranderden de functie, inhoud, vorm en doelgroep van universiteitsbladen? En hoe verhielden deze veranderingen zich tot de tranformaties van de universiteit sinds de late negentiende eeuw? Deze bundel biedt een historisch perspectief op de universitaire pers als stem van de academische gemeenschap.

In 1825 some students of the University of Utrecht published a student paper: De gekortwiekte Faam. This was a novelty: a paper for students edited by students. The professors of the academy of Utrecht condemned the initiative. They found it highly inappropriate for students to speak out for themselves. Even so, the initiative was soon followed by students of the academies in Leiden and Groningen. In the second half of the nineteenth century the student weekly had become a normal aspect of student life. This study analyses the history and development of the student paper as a genre: from the experimental first small and short-lived papers in the first half of the nineteenth century, to the institutionalized and flourishing weekly in the second half of the nineteenth century. The student paper had an important function for students and student life. It did not just reflect changes in the history of student life, it actually and actively impelled ideas and reforms in student life. The student-reader learned how to behave as a student, how to dress, how to participate in society, and what to think of new education laws. Therefore these papers defined and redefined the identity of the ‘genuine’ student and student life. This study shows the importance of the university press for the modern university.

In the historiography of the university the development of the student journals has rarely been the subject of research. These journals written by and for students, which first appeared in 1825, nevertheless did have an important role for student life. In this article, one of the early student journals, Panathenaeum, which appeared in Groningen in 1842 and 1843, will be studied in order to illustrate some aspects of the so-called early student press (1825-1855). These aspects are respectively the literary elements, the significance of the student journal for local student life and the contribution of the student journal to a growing awareness of a national student community. Ook aandacht voor de studentenpers in Utrecht en Leiden