‘Tongue-in-cheek’ name sticks around
The Good Five Cent Cigar celebrates 50 years of creating newspapers for the URI community. PHOTO CREDIT: Morgan Maleonskie
The year is 1971. Richard Nixon is president; Elton John is on tour; and the University of Rhode Island’s student-run newspaper, the Good Five Cent Cigar, is born. Now, a half-century later, the Cigar continues to provide a voice for students at URI.
To commemorate, let’s take a look back at some of the first editions of the Good Five Cent Cigar and what has changed and what is still the same 50 years later.
In the early editions of the Cigar, there were several articles revolving around campus life, similar to ones that have been written and read in the past year. For example, Let’s Celebrate: Natural resources science professors reflect on the importance of Earth Day asked professors and administrators about their plans to celebrate Earth Day at URI. In 1971, a similar article entitled “Earth Day concert books Midwest band,” was written.
There are similarities between how Earth Day was celebrated on campus now and how it was 50 years ago. For example, this past year URI professors shared advice that encouraged students to engage in local projects to help protect our Earth. This idea of thinking globally and acting locally is quite similar to what was written about Earth Day in 1971. The Zywiec Marching Band was planning to perform at URI in honor of Earth Day with intentions of working “their concern for the environment and their anti-war sentiment into music.”
The Cigar has also been covering on-campus events for the past 50 years. Back in 1971, boxing legend Muhammed Ali made an appearance on the URI campus, delivering a press conference in the Keaney Gymnasium. According to the 1971 article written by Cigar reporter Steve Cheslow, “Ali wit delights URI crowd.” Ali delivered a speech revolving around his purpose in life and self-discovery, earning a standing ovation by the URI crowd.
This connects closely with the Student Entertainment Committee (SEC) events that were taking place on campus at the time. For example, according to an ad placed in a 1971 issue, legends Elton John, Dee Murray and Nigel Olssen were scheduled by the SEC to perform at the Keaney Gymnasium in April. The show ended up being canceled due to illness, according to a later article from the paper.
Today, the SEC still works to bring popular entertainers to the URI campus, and the Cigar continues to report on these events. For example, the University virtually hosted musical artist Jason Derulo last semester, which you can read about here. The committee has also brought actors like Terry Crews and Hunter Schaffer to campus in the past year, allowing them to tell their stories and chat with inspired crowds of students, similar to Cheslow’s report after Ali’s 1971 appearance.
Staff reporter Abbie Judson’s 2021 report on Hunter Schaffer’s virtual visit to URI and Cheslow’s report on 1971 Muhammed Ali both highlight the activists speaking about finding their ways through life.
According to Judson, “Schaffer shared advice for students who are trying to find their path in life, and said that she believes that it’s important to remember where and how one finds joy and love in whatever they’re doing.”
Meanwhile, Cheslow included that Ali shed wise words to his URI crowd, telling them that “the greatest discovery of all is to find the purpose of life,” and explained that to find happiness, we must not confuse temporary pleasure with overall fulfillment.
One article that stood out was one written by John Pantalone, the then-editor-in-chief and current journalism department chair. His 1971 article “Administration wants armed campus police,” covered a bill being introduced by the State Legislature that would institute armed police forces on campus, despite resistance from faculty and students.
This is similar to articles that have been featured in the Cigar in recent years, such as Shannon McDonnell’s “Students take a stand for gun safety” and Tonie Lopez’s “What Would Campus Look Like if Students Could Carry Guns?” Both of these articles shared the opinions of students who were against the use of weapons on campus, much like Pantalone’s article highlighting student voices against the presence of guns at URI.
The issue of gun control and safety has been extremely prevalent in the United States for a long time now, especially in schools and on college campuses. But seeing how this debate affected the campus population in 1971 is essential to understanding how things have changed over the past 50 years.
In 1971, Pantalone compared the way administrators were treating students who were rallying against arming campus police to how parents treat their children. University administrators at the time would not listen to the demands of their students, just as a parent may ignore a whining child.
However, now students have more opportunities to display their opinions on this intense issue, such as during protests, like the one outlined in McDonnell’s aforementioned article.
It is also important to consider the articles written about the expansion of the Memorial Union back in 1971, as the Union still remains the heart of the URI campus.
An article that was published in one of the early editions of the Cigar “Union to expand Pub facilities by fall 1971,” focused on the expansion of the Pub, a student lounge in the Memorial Union, the expansion of the darkrooms in the Union and the increase of food options. All of these changes were made to make the Memorial Union more accessible to students.
Today, the Director of the Memorial Union Carl Stiles is always looking for ways to expand the Union “in hopes to enhance the student experience primarily,” according to “Life in 20/20: Campus optometrist closes,” which talked about changes the Union was making for COVID-19. This included both the closing of unused businesses and the opening of sought-after student organizations.
While 50 years have brought many changes to the University and numerous reporters to the Cigar, our mission has never changed for each story that we write: to give the students of URI a voice.