The 1960s were obviously a time of great political and social change in America. Many of these changes emanated from college campuses across the country, and even Purdue University got a piece of the action. One of the ways in which radical and leftist ideas were disseminated to the public was through underground newspapers. Underground newspapers were independent and obviously had more control over the content they created as opposed to more mainstream and privately-owned newspapers. As a result, the stories that underground newspapers reported on could be more taboo and politically charged. However, underground newspapers were not only radical in the nature of the content they reported on but also in who was doing the reporting. Underground newspapers began popping up around the 1960s and 1970s due to the growth in popularity of social movements and the lack of coverage of these social movements in mainstream newspapers. These underground newspapers were free from the restraints of modesty and cordiality their mainstream counterparts were subject to and could thus report on controversial and radical topics. These underground newspapers, reflecting their diverse audience, had more diverse staff writers and contributors than mainstream newspapers. 

Background and history

     John McMillian in “Smoking Typewriters: The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America” discussed how underground newspapers were able to grow so quickly and explained why they were popular in the first place. He stated that one major difference between underground and mainstream reporters is that underground reporters participated in the events that they covered. Thus, underground reporters were able to bring a unique perspective and as a result were more passionate about and close to the stories they covered. These reporters didn’t pretend to be objective and instead wrote opinionated pieces that were relevant to their experiences as a student. This is in direct opposition to the “prefabricated template” mainstream journalists used to cover youth culture. [1] These templates were boring and unappealing to the growing radical left, ultimately pushing them to create the type of content they wanted to read. 

     Another difference laid within the inherent purpose of the newspaper. “Beginning in the mid-1960s, in cities and campuses across the country, New Leftists began creating and distributing their own radical community newssheets, with which they aimed to promote avant- garde sensibilities and inspire political tumult”.[2] As McMillian noted, these underground papers sought to do more than inform, but to promote their agenda and inspire their readers to join the revolution. McMillian also noted that “most of these publications centered around the principles concerning racism, the Vietnam War and democratic accountability.”[3]  These were issues that reporters wanted to cover and readers want to consume. These were also issues mainstream newspapers did not talk about. Racism and the Vietnam War were the two greatest issues discussed in Purdue underground newspapers. 

     Lastly, McMillian contributed the success of underground newspapers to their ability to foster a sense of community. He states “community building played a crucial role in helping youths to break away from the complacency and resignation that prevailed in postwar America, in order to build an indigenous, highly stylized protest culture.”[4] In other words, underground publications were produced by peers who were known and lived within the community they were reporting about. This personal connection made viewers more inclined to consume content because it made them feel more informed about and involved within their community. McMillian also noted that the number of underground newspapers grew very quickly. He states, “in 1965, the New Left could claim only five such newspapers, mostly in large cities; within a few years, several hundred papers were in circulation, with a combined readership that stretched into the millions.”[5]

     But what led to this quick popularity change? Donna Lloyd Ellis states that the success of underground newspapers can be attributed to three main factors. The first was the emergence of a “youth culture” which emphasized drugs and a “disenchantment with the American political system.”[6] Also, a large amount of the readers- mainly college students- had the disposable income to purchase the newspapers and the leisure time to read them.[7] It is also noteworthy that the writers, contributors, illustrators, editors, etc. were also college students who had the time to produce these underground newspapers because they did not work full time and most did not have a family. 

     The second factor that contributed to the success of underground newspapers was the failure of daily newspapers to cover the news young people wanted to actually read.[8] Young people were not interested in fluff pieces or pro-war propaganda. Instead, they wanted to read about the issues that would actually impact them, such as racism, sexism, and the Vietnam War. It is plausible to assume that readers were also upset with the lack of representation in those who were writing the stories, ultimately pushing them to be their own representation. 

     The third reason underground newspapers became popular very quickly was quite simply because of the comparatively low overhead of new journalistic technology.[9] McMillian concurs with this statement, stating, “before the 1960s, newspapers had to be set on a Linotype machine- a procedure that was both costly and difficult. But with the advent of photo offset printing… one could print several thousand copies of eight or sixteen-page tabloids for just a couple hundred dollars.”[10] This low cost of investment made it possible for college students without a ton of disposable income to front the cost of the first edition and then be able to sell the copies and breakeven or even make a profit. However, 72% of the underground papers queried by UPS claimed they made no profit.[11] The fact that most undergrounds did not seek to make a large profit is another big difference between mainstream newspapers. Papers like the Journal & Courier had one ultimate goal: to make money. Since underground newspapers were not as worried about profit, they did not need to appease advertisement companies and could instead create controversial content that their readers wanted to consume. 

     The low cost of production also allowed for the copies to be sold at a low rate that poor college kids could afford. Bauls sold for about 25 cents each, which was affordable enough to purchase every other week or so and was actually competitive with the price of mainstream newspapers. The New York Times cost around 15 cents per copy in 1969. With the emergence of a tangible youth culture, the ability of college students to both read and produce content because of their leisure time, the low cost to produce newspapers, and mainstream papers failing their younger audience, the underground press syndicate had nearly everything stacked in their favor. 

Bauls

     One of the biggest underground newspapers on Purdue’s campus in the late 1960s was Bauls. Bauls means “wild or mad” in Hindu, which is an accurate description when considering the type of material they were putting out. At least five issues were created during 1969, with the first issue being sold on January 6, 1969. Originally, the Peace Union, a student organization on campus, sold copies of Bauls inside the Union. However, the University responded to the sale of the very first edition by preventing the open sale of it on campus the day after it came out. When questions about who was producing this paper began to be asked, the president of the Peace Union, Clark Shimatsu, said the club had “no official connection with the publication” as quoted in an article written in the Journal and Courier.[12] The Peace Union and the Bauls publication team responded to this censure by selling copies in secret, which most likely had an ultimate effect of drawing attention to the newspaper and then encouraging students to buy and read it just to see what was so bawdy about it.