Emma Caroline Brown
Editor
November 2025 marks The Spectator’s 120th year of being active at Mississippi University for Women — a milestone not many college media outlets accomplish in the modern day.
Since its creation in 1905, The Spectator has brought campus news, sights, opinions and perspectives to life through its reporting, writing and publication. 120 years of history have been captured by student reporters writing various articles, but 120 years of The W’s history is the face of The Spectator.
The W’s university president, Nora Miller, has seen The Spectator as a student, alum and now university president. The Spectator has gone through many changes throughout the past few decades, but Miller sees The Spectator’s constants in that it brings news to students and to the campus.
“I think it tells the news and kind of the mood of the campus, of the students, what they’re concerned about, what they’re interested in,” Miller said. “It also gives, you know, some content, like a movie review or something about things that are happening.”
The Spectator staff in 2000.
Photo courtesy of The W’s archives.
Campus news, local news, movie reviews, student or faculty spotlights, opinion pieces, artwork, photography and so much more bring The Spectator to life each publication month.
Students bring in story ideas, conduct interviews, research topics and write articles that later serve as a time capsule for The W and the world’s happenings.
The Spectator has been on the scene to cover the expansion of academics and activities, visits from former presidents such as Ronald Reagan and then-candidate Barack Obama, The W becoming co-educational and how The W continues to evolve 141 years after becoming a chartered university.
Stephanie Salvaterra, The W’s archivist and special collections librarian, was a staff member on her high school newspaper, so she has perspective as a student reporter working to get newspapers out to students. But Salvaterra now also has the perspective of being an archivist working with original copies and materials of The Spectator dating back to its creation.
Salvaterra sees the importance of The Spectator not only in its role of informing students but also one of historical importance.
“I think student newspapers are incredibly important to every high school and college that publishes them, because it's an opportunity for students to express their opinions about things that are happening on campus, to have their voices be heard,” Salvaterra said. “It’s such a good resource for students on campus, but historically, it’s also incredibly important because it’s one of the few resources that we have in the archives that is from the student perspective and that was being published on a pretty regular basis.”
The Spectator, which was originally established as a literary magazine in the 1904-1905 academic year, became a full-fledged newspaper in 1916. Students submitted original writings, poems and stories to be published for campus-wide reading and remained campus-oriented when The Spectator became a newspaper.
A cartoon published in the 1917 edition of The Spectator, signifying the publication becoming a full-fledged newspaper.
Photo courtesy of The W’s archives.
During this semester students in Mass Communication and Society, a course in the Communication department, have been researching the history of the student newspaper and its founders. They have tracked the lives of some of the founders and looked at how content always centered around campus, but also often reflected what was happening in the world at that time, including two world wars and the 1918 pandemic.
Articles in The Spectator over the years have included covering the women’s suffrage movement, a commencement ball honoring graduating classes and The W (then II&C) being awarded grant money by the Mississippi legislature. However, alongside the news articles are writings, stories and poems submitted by students.
The Spectator was originally organized by The W’s literary societies. While it was a literary magazine The Spectator was originally a senior class publication, but it later changed to being student-wide — a change Salvaterra thinks speaks more to the evolution of The W.
“Instead of saying ‘the publication of the senior class of the II&C,’ it said, ‘the publication of the student body of the II&C,’” Salvaterra said. “And that was a huge change, I think, in how they [the students] saw themselves and how the school saw itself as well.”
Since The Spectator became fully open to represent the entire campus, it has drawn in many students. Students who might have never written an article, expressed interest in journalism or were in an entirely different major from the likes of communication became staff members.
Students such as Pooja Rani Shaunak found a creative niche in being a part of The Spectator staff, especially since it was so different from her chosen major.
“I was an accounting major, and The Spectator was a great way for me to tap into my creative side,” Shaunak said. “It was definitely something I looked forward to every week, from writing stories about campus students to featuring women-owned small businesses in the Golden Triangle area. I loved being a Spectator staff member!”
1984 Spectator staff members working on a layout design.
Photo courtesy of The W’s archives.
The Spectator provides students a path to discover their voices, better their communication skills, create networking opportunities and open doors to opportunities that might have never been available through other campus organizations.
Miller has seen firsthand how The Spectator has impacted students and their careers, first through her roommate at The W having been on staff and then through meeting students and alumni who served or currently serve on staff.
“I think it [The Spectator] gives students an experience,” Miller said. “I think especially now, where you do it in so many different media forms, it’s really helping to prepare students for their careers.”
The next 120 years will be left to the future of The W and to those who can continue the tradition of making students’ voices be heard, opinions known and campus news getting reported that was established by five trailblazing women.
While the future is unknown, there is hope for what The Spectator covers and accomplishes in the coming years as it paints a bigger picture of life at The W and the students who keep it running.
“I hope that it becomes more integrated, or like a bigger part of life on campus. Seeing more students participate in it and be invested in telling their own stories, I think, would be awesome,” Salvaterra said.