Uncertain future for oldest South Australian student publication
As two major South Australian universities prepare for a historic merger, one of the quieter casualties may be a 93-year-old student magazine.
As the third oldest student publication in Australia, On Dit boasts a long, reputable history of engaging and informing students on the matters most relevant to them, while serving as a showcase of student journalism and an incubator of homegrown talent.
Louise Jackson, the magazine’s editor in 2023, said that student media was an important part of student life.
“[On Dit] is an invaluable experience. It’s student magazines that are kind of the only place where students can have that control and ownership over their own voices, and I was very proud to be part of that,” she said.
“So many people get their start in serious published work because they were able to say, look, I had my stuff published in On Dit.”
It’s a pathway exemplified by 1965 editor and respected journalist and critic Samela Harris, who said On Dit taught her “the power of journalism.”
Harris’s editorship, which she undertook in her first year of law school, was the catalyst for a scholarship from Rupert Murdoch, who, having recently inherited the daily tabloid The News, had a vision to bring passionate upcoming journalists associated with student publications to newsroom floors.
Harris’s acceptance of the offer had committed the publication to employing its first female reporter.
Once upon a time – someone of the On Dit era at Adelaide Uni took this shot beside a mysterious image captioned: Miss Harris, 18, Exuberant Radical. Image supplied by: Samela Harris
“My role with On Dit transformed my sense of identity from future lawyer to ready-made newspaperwoman,” Harris told InDaily.
“It was a fiercely political time because of the Vietnam War. Some students were hiding out as conscientious objectors, some were conscripted.
“Early Adelaide Festivals were bringing exciting international arts to the city, and I was turning out reviews.
“There were student protests against capital punishment.
“There was some sort of insane riverboat race in which everyone threw flour at competitors, and of course, there was Prosh Week, which generated a huge, zany procession through the city.
“We were deep into it all with reporters and an invitation to students to just drop unsolicited contributions at the SRC office downstairs.”
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Losing touch
Harris’s reflections paint a picture of an active and respected student newspaper – one well attuned to the local and global events surrounding it, and well-engaged with by the student body.
However, when InDaily asked University of Adelaide SRC General Secretary Edward Archer about current student attitudes towards the publication, his immediate response was “students don’t know it exists”.
As the University of Adelaide student union, YouX, and the University of South Australia Student Association (USASA) continue to debate the structure of the merged student body in the hybridised Adelaide University, questions remain about whether the magazine will continue within the new institution or cease publication after 93 years.
Recent turbulent years of On Dit, marked by editorial controversies, troubled elections and appointments of editors and declining student engagement, have potentially reshaped the role of the magazine within the university community and weakened its standing in ongoing merger negotiations.
Archer suggested the publication’s lack of readership is symptomatic of recent faction-aligned editorial teams’ disregard for maintaining the magazine’s presence on campus.
“It’s a shame that uninterested parties have been controlling [On Dit] and not really doing anything with it,” Archer said.
“But I think that’s a big part of why it’s unengaged. And I think it used to be a lot more prominent, especially before COVID.”
Archer pointed to the 2024 editorial team as evidence of this culture, claiming they “pumped out [editions] in a very short period of time towards the end [of the year] to meet the funding requirements.”
YouX receives funding from the University of Adelaide to publish the magazine and the $7500 honorarium for each editor as part of a Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) agreement. The annually negotiated agreement stipulates the number of published editions that the editorial team must meet in their term, being eight editions in 2024.
In that year, five of the eight editions published were released after the academic year had concluded.
Factional fighting
These concerns denote the greater recent trend involving On Dit being used by campus factions as a “political arm of YouX,” according to Archer.
The current governance model sees On Dit editors, alongside Student Radio directors, elected by the student population – a process that, as Archer describes it, forces student media candidates “to be a student politician for a week”.
He believes this system is not conducive to enabling the most qualified students to serve as On Dit editors, instead favouring those who can campaign effectively, particularly institutionalised campus factions. Moreover, the outcome turns cyclical when students are routinely disengaged with the affairs of the magazine come time for the annual election.
“These things get basically politically gerrymandered to put certain people in,” Archer said.
“If students aren’t engaged, they’re not going to pick people who are necessarily the best for the job. They’re going to pick whoever they were first approached by, which is in no way a good indicator of if that person is a good editor or not.
“I just think electing them at the moment is not beneficial to having a student media that is productive, and it leaves it open towards something that politicises it.”
Former editor Jackson believes students “should be able to choose who has editorial power over their words”, but agrees that the current system lacks safeguards to ensure merit-based appointment.
“At the end of the day, it is still controlled by the student union and anyone can run a ticket, and I have my reservations with the fact that anyone can run a ticket. I believe that there should be greater checks and balances,” Jackson said.
Adelaide University
Any potential reform involving the electoral processes and governance of On Dit rests in the hands of elected student leaders from both USASA and YouX – alongside the broader question of whether the publication will continue printing into 2026.
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In a statement provided to InDaily, USASA President Oliver Shephard-Bayly affirmed that USASA sees student media as “more important than ever”.
“We believe student-led media should remain a central and independent pillar of student life in Adelaide University,” Shephard-Bayly said.
He submitted that a “formal shared vision has not yet been finalised” and did not provide a timeline for when plans would be confirmed. He did state, however, that USASA’s team has engaged in preliminary discussions with YouX about the transition of student media into the new university and is advocating for a model that “preserves editorial independence and meaningful student engagement”.
Shephard-Bayly also confirmed to InDaily that Verse – UniSA’s printed student magazine – would be winding up by the end of 2025.
“This decision was made in the context of the new university and the transition to a new phase of student media,” he said.
“As part of this process, USASA is creating a special final edition to celebrate the legacy of student media at the University of South Australia honouring its history, contributors, and the role it has played in shaping student voice and culture.”
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InDaily contacted YouX President Merlin Wang for comment regarding YouX’s stance in ongoing student media discussions, but did not receive a response.
Look to the past for the future
For Jackson, On Dit functions as a “time capsule” that has captured the past 93 years of student life – a legacy she believes is one “you want to protect”.
“You can go back and find On Dits from decades ago on the university website still. It’s fascinating, and that’s not something that I think we should take lightly,” Jackson said.
“I think it should survive.”
Jackson said there is an “unprecedented opportunity” to implement broad sweeping reforms to the student magazine and told InDaily one place to start is its future-proofing.
“I think [On Dit] has been a bit behind the times, just because it’s quite inflexible,” she said.
“Pre-21st-century was also completely different. It was a broadsheet newspaper and they were publishing like every week or every two weeks or something like that.
“It’s already evolved and it’s at a point where it needs to evolve again in a big way.”
Jackson said that ideally On Dit and Student Radio would be combined on the same ticket.
“I think it would make more sense for that to be kind of absorbed into On Dit and have a bigger editorial team similar to what a lot of other student publications have. So, like looking at more of a team of six to eight or something like that and being able to divide responsibilities better and have more different focuses,” Jackson said.
Former editor and veteran journalist Samela Harris believes On Dit “should look to the past for the future” in reclaiming its precedent as a provider of high-quality journalism.
“As law students, we had a general feel for the implications of the published word, and of the concept of fair play and impartiality,” she said.
“Looking at recent On Dits, I have felt this lacking.
“University newspapers are ever more relevant. The students must have a free voice. Loud and clear. University newspapers are this voice.
“But they must have integrity and honesty and be aware that there is a Code of Ethics which they can find on the Media and Entertainment Alliance website.
“No fear or favour, kids.”
Varsity Ragge, the precursor publication to On Dit, ceased publication due to what the first On Dit editors attributed to “apathy on the part of the students” and “faulty organization”.
Whether On Dit will meet a similar fate, continue printing with a new look, or make way for a new student magazine, will be determined over the remainder of the year.
