Illustration by Emily Zhang
In a time where print media is increasingly threatened and shrinking, we at F Newsmagazine are celebrating the last 40 years of student journalism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. F Newsmagazine, founded in 1984, is one of the only nationally award-winning papers produced by an art university in the United States; it is regularly in the top 100 national student newspapers. Last year we received the most awards of any student paper in Illinois.
The “F” in F Newsmagazine can stand for any number of things. Friends. Family. Future. Fun. Fuck. But regardless of what the F stands for, the paper itself is a time capsule of SAIC, art, Chicago, politics, and many generations of students.
Over the next few pages of this issue, we want to let you in on our history. You also might spot our flying friend and unofficial mascot the F News pigeon, or “Figeon,” throughout these pages. This special section is about celebrating F’s history and blowing out our birthday candles to wish for 40 more years of F News.
In our paper, design and writing go hand-in-hand because, at an arts college, we know that they are two art forms that complement and make one another stronger. We honor this feature, in part, through our cover design infographic on page 16.
We also recognize that art and the student experience are heavily tied to social justice movements. Great art often inspires change, and the student paper provides reports and opinions surrounding that change. On page 18, we reflect on the history of student protests at SAIC, as reported on by F News.
We want to applaud the dedication of the many generations of staff who have worked on this paper for the last 40 years. A lot has changed since 1984, even how the paper gets produced every month (see page 15). But one thing that has never changed is that F News has always been a place of community and professional development. For two former alumni, F News even led to them meeting, falling in love, and getting married. On the final page of this special section, we use comics to give F News alumni a space to share and reflect on their time at the paper.
F News serves as a publication produced by the students for the students and SAIC community. We operate independently from the administration, and we are committed to compensating writers, designers, and cartoonists for their work. Students are often the little man, but not at F News. We strive to provide students with news and be an outlet for diverse voices to be heard. Our job as artists is to advocate for ourselves and our visions — F News is that impulse in action.
We invite all of you, dear readers, to get involved with F Newsmagazine. Reach out to us! Tell us what you want to hear, write your own opinions, report on things that matter to your community. Email [email protected] or show up to our next open meeting on Oct. 2 to get involved. We want to share our birthday cake with the whole of SAIC.
And if you’re interested in diving deeper into our history, go to digitalcollections.saic.edu and click on the F Newsmagazine drop-down to see our whole digital archive of issues that date back to 1984.
Happy Birthday, F Newsmagazine. Today, the F stands for 40 (more) years.
— Sidne K. Gard
Managing Editor
