The Drinkinsonian

Drinkinsonian
Drinkinsonian

The Drinkinsonian is an annual satirical issue of The Dickinsonian, the regular campus newspaper. The first issue arrived on the Dickinson campus on November 3, 1932 claiming "We dare to print all." This was at the time of the Great Depression and prohibition, and The Drinkinsonian provided comic relief as it poked fun at campus life. Throughout its sporadic run, which continues to the present, The Drinkinsonian has taken on Dickinson's social, educational, political, and everyday issues in sometimes outrageous satire.

Along with poking fun at the campus, The Drinkinsonian also concocted stories which included everything from executions to fires. Early issues used the Carlisle community in some of its articles. The paper placed advertisements upside down and often placed random unrelated pictures throughout with whimsical captions. Most headlines concerned sports, fraternities, current events, and especially the presidents and other authority figures of the College. As the world watched to see who the Soviet Union would select to follow Joseph Stalin, the stridently anti-communist President William Wilcox Edel was announced as his successor in the 1953 edition complete with photograph of him boarding the plane for Moscow.

The present Drinkinsonian editions are usually produced to coincide with April Fools' Day.

Author of Post: 
Dickinson College Archives
Date of Post: 
2005