The Courtesy of The Cougar
The pages of The Cougar span generations.
Born in 1928, The Cougar published its first volume on April 6 as the official newspaper of the Houston Junior College, but was reborn with the establishment of UH in 1934.
The Cougar still continues pushing onwards, writing, documenting and photographing the beating heart of Houston: its namesake University. But from the publication’s infancy till today, the paper has not existed in a vacuum.
The Cougar conducted its first poll of the student body as worries rose over what would eventually become World War II, asking if students supported FDR’s seeking a third term.
On Dec. 19, 1941, The Cougar responded to the Pearl Harbor attacks and subsequent call to war with a “Defense Issue”. Even as wartime rationing stunted business growth and limited advertising revenue, The Cougar continued publishing and even released its first summer issue on June 19, 1942.
With students and alumni being called into the armed forces, The Cougar launched a campaign to use funds from paying subscribers to send out the paper to 500 servicemen from UH. “Wars may come and go, but the Cougar goes on forever” read an editorial cartoon from the April 2, 1943 edition.
Decades later, The Cougar responded to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in its Nov. 27, 1963 edition, featuring a campus memorial service on its front page.
The newspaper also took a strong stance against the Vietnam War: after four students were killed during a protest at Kent State University, The Cougar’s front page declared “1, 2, 3, 4, We don’t want your f-ing war”.
The editorial board of The Cougar actively pushed for abortion rights, free contraceptives on campus and the Equal Rights Amendment.
Beyond political commentary, The Cougar bore witness to national tragedy: on 9/11, the editorial board wrote that rather than “jump to conclusions and blame innocent people…this is a time to come together to mourn the nation’s losses.”
Student reporters also brought insight and humanity to The Cougar’s coverage when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas in February 2003.
Since then, The Cougar has continued to publish with relentless attention to the forces shaping the world around students: elections from the national to local level, natural disasters, new laws, changes in the University and so much more.
Now, as the publication confronts a national administration like none before it, multiple ongoing international conflicts and cultural debates that never fail to spark controversy, trust that this far-from-exhaustive account of the paper’s history serves only as a starting point for what we hope to achieve in the future.
We’re honored to have you with us.
For more about The Cougar’s history, explore the UH Student Publications 75th anniversary website.
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