Digital Commons @ Otterbein

The Otterbein Weekly was a thirteen-issue newspaper published in the spring of 1906, “In the Interests of the Students of Otterbein University.” In the first edition, it is written: To write about the lack of college spirit is resorted to by many editors in their dire distress for want of copy. The intention of this paper is not to keep nagging at the student body to show more school spirit, but, by creating an interest in the various departments of college activity, it is hoped that a natural growth of college enthusiasm will spring up to supplant the lethargy we all, as students, have so often manifested. This was probably directed at the well-established Otterbein Aegis (1890-1917), a monthly publication that would occasionally print complaints about the lack of school spirit. It is also possible that this was a deeper jab at the Philophronean Literary Society, which published the Aegis. At the beginning of the 20th century, students who had once turned to the Literary Societies as their main social outlet on campus were beginning to chafe under their rules and regulations. It is no coincidence that the first fraternities would be founded a mere two years after this independent publication was created. The final Otterbein Weekly, dated June 4, gives no indication that the newspaper would cease operation, and no mention of it is made of its passing in the Aegis. Otterbein would not have another weekly newspaper until 1909 when the Philomathean Literary Society began publishing The Otterbein Review.