Griffith Archive

Our story - acknowledging our past, celebrating our present, creating our future

Griffitti

DESCRIPTION

DescriptionSince our first year of teaching in 1975, Griffith students have been publishing student specific material. The first ‘organised’ publication was ‘The Gryphon’ (published in January or February of 1975) which then became ‘Griffitti’ by the time the second publication was released in May of 1975. The early issues dealt with a variety of topics such as abortion, contraception and equal rights. More run-of-the-mill topics were also presented such as student accommodation, student loans, and clubs and societies present on campus. The early editions of Griffith student publications were a mixture of orientation guide, social commentary and political activism. For the most part, these were published firstly by the Griffith University Union of Students (GUUS) and then subsequently by the Griffith University Student Representative Council (GUSRC).

The student representative body at Griffith (either as GUUS or GUSRC) had long been responsible for the gathering and presentation of content found in official student publications. By early 1993, the GUSRC decided a major overhaul of our student publication was required. The GUSRC came to recognise that not only had Griffitti grown stale, it had in fact developed a reputation in some quarters as a poor quality student newspaper that did not represent the interests of students well. This revamp included a name change from ‘Griffitti’ to ‘Gravity’. However, the name change was not just a simple substitution of title. A vote by the GUSRC Board was required - with a two-thirds majority - for the name change to take place.

Gravity was a different publication from Griffitti in some ways. It tried to offer a broader range of content and eventually it moved from a newspaper layout to a magazine layout. Despite the change in physical appearance, the release was still intended to provide guidance for students to successfully navigate their way through university life and also provide a platform for students to voice concerns or commentate on social and political issues. Gravity experienced some controversy during its run with claims of sexist content and questionable use of funding. With the Gravity brand damaged, the final year of publication for this rendition of our student newspaper was 2003. Despite some failings with both Griffitti and Gravity, both titles provide an invaluable social history account of Griffith students from 1975 through to 2003.CollectionPublications