Earlier this month, 300 copies of a new student-run newspaper, the “WUnderground,” were printed and distributed on main campus.
The paper was inspired by the void of “parody and satire papers” on campus, according to Lee Dunfield, editor in chief of the newspaper. Dunfield hopes that WUnderground will bring comedic relief from other more “serious” publications.
“Especially after reading the Student Life April Fool’s edition, we just thought we could do better,” joked Commander in Chief Sam Stribling.
The first issue, which was paid for “out of pocket,” has helped WUnderground earn funding as a class-three group with the Student Group Activities Committee. A new edition will be published every month and distributed at Mallinckrodt Center and the underpass.
As of now, in addition to the three “chiefs,” Editor in Chief (Dunfield), Commander in Chief (Stribling) and Savage Indian Chief (Tomer Cohen), the paper has approximately ten contributing writers. However, they are in need of layout editors and photographers.
“[We] need as many people as we can get to give us ideas and articles,” said Dunfield. The paper is open to articles that are “good quality and not offensive…well, to a point,” and on “anything that anyone wants to comment on about the University.” Dunfield said articles “just have to be funny, basically.”
Currently the paper focuses on school related topics. The first issue addressed a variety of subjects from the school’s dropping in the U.S News & World Report’s rankings to the layout of the Loop (in an article entitled, “Freshmen Still Looking for Turnaround in Loop”).
Dunfield hopes to eventually expand the newspaper to include different sections, such as one to cover international and another to cover national issues.
“People want to write for us because they’re frustrated with things,” said Dunfield, who enjoys editing and writing the paper. “It’s fun to do and I know people like to read it.”