Throughout its history, The Cadre has maintained a simple yet powerful message: to give the students of UPEI stories and news they want to see. Although the subject matter has evolved over the years in response to changing student attitudes, The Cadre has adapted to stay relevant. This adaptability is evident when comparing the newspaper’s origins in 1969 to its 2023-24 model today, nearly 55 years later.
The history of The Cadre coincides with the inception of the University of Prince Edward Island, beginning with the 1969 academic school year. The first issue of The Cadre was released on October 3rd of that year. At that time, The Cadre had a more radical tone. It challenged capitalism, Christianity, and traditional Canadian university systems – three core structures in UPEI (which had recently changed from its former name, Saint Dunstan’s University) and in Canadian society.
This was intentional. The Cadre set a precedent for showcasing articles and student opinions that were too “out there” for other newspapers to print. This was The Cadre’s unique selling point, the reason students picked up the paper and read it. Besides covering UPEI sports and events, the main appeal to UPEI students was its radicality compared to other sources of student news, such as UPEI administration. This defined The Cadre for generations. It was a leading voice in promoting women’s rights and liberties, sexual openness and freedoms, and the perspectives of everyday students. They tackled issues like high tuition costs, inflation, and the disconnect between the administration and the student population – cornerstones of The Cadre’s reporting.
On the left, one of the last issues of The Cadre. On the right, issue of The UPEI Sun of 1979.
From 1969 to 1977, The Cadre continued to give students a voice on a variety of campus topics. However, as the 1970s progressed, The Cadre became less radical and opinionated, losing some of its diehard fans who appreciated the bluntness of its articles. By 1977, The Cadre had ceased publication, replaced by a new UPEI newspaper, the UPEI Sun.
The Sun adopted a less “radical” approach to journalism at UPEI, but, in homage to its Cadre roots, continued the tradition of publishing student opinions and challenges. The Sun focused primarily on widespread student issues such as tuition fees, student unemployment, government student loans, and the perceived lack of government aid in universities. Additionally, the Sun was instrumental in promoting student events, clubs, sports, and entertainment, establishing itself as a more reliable source for student news than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the UPEI Sun’s popularity and motivation waned over time, leading to its ultimate demise, much like its predecessor, The Cadre. Following this, the UPEI Gem filled its place. The Gem focused many of its articles on a more outward approach, delivering news on the conditions of Third-World countries and their situations, and tying them to the international students on campus at UPEI. This was a new approach taken by a UPEI newspaper and proved mostly successful with the growth of the international student population at UPEI. The Gem continued the legacy of the previous Cadre and Sun in reporting on the state of student loans, university funding, and tuition prices to keep news relevant for those attending UPEI. Within the Gem were opinion pieces that gave UPEI students an outlet to speak their minds. In addition, sports and club events were also found on the Gem pages. Despite a slight alteration to try and find a “middle ground” between students who enjoyed a more mainstream approach to journalism and those who preferred the opinionated, often harsh articles about student challenges on campus, the Gem would meet the same fate as the Sun and the previous Cadre and cease operations in 1990.
In 1990, a new name was used to broadcast campus news and events to students and staff at UPEI. The emergence of UPEI’s “Panther Prints”, a successor to the UPEI Gem, began its publication at the start of the 1990-91 academic school year. While short-lived, the UPEI Panther Prints continued the tradition of giving students an outlet to express both their gratitude and/or distaste for the UPEI administration through the form of a newspaper. The name was changed to the UPEI X-Press on October 18, 1990, a little more than a month into the school year. However, this did not last long, as it could not find the audience required to continue publishing and was discontinued in 1992, two years later.
In 1995, after a three-year hiatus, the name “Panther Prints” was back in business, making its second debut in 1995 as UPEI’s newspaper. The first issue was published and printed in September of 1995, and much like the previous paper, could not hold onto sufficient viewership to justify the costs of operations. Therefore, in 1997, the Panthers Prints were, like the papers before it, discontinued.
For the beginning of the 1997-98 academic year, the Cadre was brought back, and like its predecessors, continued the legacy of hard-hitting journalism. In getting more with the times, The Cadre ditched much of its anti-capitalist and anti-religion agenda that became synonymous with the previous Cadre paper, focusing more on what the Sun and Gem did, reporting on students’ opinions about various topics affecting the student population. However, this was not without its fair share of controversy as time went on. The most notable being the infamous “comic scandal of 2005”.
To summarize, in one of the winter issues of 2005, The Cadre became the first Canadian Newspaper to reprint a 12-cartoon strip depicting a popular Muslim figure in a distasteful way. As soon as papers hit the campus, the floodgates were open, with students dividing themselves into groups of those offended by the contents of the paper, calling for action against The Cadre, and by extension, the UPEI Student Union. There were also those who saw The Cadre as flexing its ability, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and its section of freedom of the press, to print what it wanted. This caught wind outside of campus, with CBC reporting on it for a larger audience to view and discuss. This also caught the attention of the UPEI administration.
The passage, which demanded The Cadre retrieve the distributed issue, proceeded to ban The Cadre from being read on campus until the issue was resolved. The UPEI Student Union then withdrew their support of The Cadre after a meeting with staff, faculty, and UPEI administration. This event left a mark on the reputation synonymous with hard-hitting, blunt, emotional journalism that The Cadre was known for. Many perceived it as an attempt at censorship when The Cadre was well within its rights. Others viewed it as an ill-timed cartoon that, while not illegal, should not have been reprinted and published. Regardless, after a brief period of controversy and laying low, The Cadre was once again given the green light to resume printing and publishing, with the Student Union’s support.
The Cadre’s evolution from The Gem to The Cadre to, briefly, Panther Post.
A significant change occurred during the 2012 academic year when The Cadre ceased its tradition of printing and distributing issues in paper format, transitioning to an online-only version. Recognizing the rise of the internet and its increasing popularity among news organizations, The Cadre saw the appeal and cost-effectiveness of this change.
While many appreciated The Cadre’s shift, particularly those from the “Save the Trees” movement, others considered it a step back in terms of student engagement, as it quickly removed the option to pick up an issue on campus and read it.
Nonetheless, this change persisted until the 2022-23 academic year, when The Cadre returned to its roots and resumed printing.
Last year’s Editor-in-Chief, Jake MacCallum saw it then and continues to view it as a necessary move to retain viewership and reignite the engagement lost when the print moved online.
The Cadre is back in print. April’s issue of 2023.
The year started off rocky, particularly with a miscommunication during an interview that wasn’t supposed to be public knowledge but was published, necessitating the collection of the issue. Despite this and other newsworthy events thrown at students and staff last year – Hurricane Fiona, the Canada Winter Games’ use of one of our residence buildings, and the Faculty Strike, to name a few – The Cadre emerged as a reliable, level-headed paper that could deliver news when needed while still showcasing students’ opinions.
With that, we find ourselves in the present day, with our small but mighty group, working to combine stories involving UPEI and its students while striving to uphold the legacy behind The Cadre name. This legacy is the ability to be blunt, emotional, and opinionated when necessary. The Cadre name is historic, dating back as far as the University itself. While it has had its fair share of controversy, there’s a reason why The Cadre, and journalism, is still found and appreciated at UPEI today.
All eyes look to the present and to the future.