SC019 Promulgates

Running from 1998-2010, the Promulgates were published from two Shimer campuses. The collection began when Shimer was located in Waukegan, Illinois, and continued past Shimer’s move to rent space on Chicago’s Illinois Institute of Technology campus in 2006. Due to financial constraints and Shimer’s identity struggle around the time of the move, no Promulgates were published from February 2006 through February 2008. In the Promulgates following the move, many articles were concerned with Shimer’s identity, and how the school could both make itself a known presence among the IIT population while retaining its own sense of self.

Unlike the Gadfly, a newsletter for the students in Shimer’s weekend program that ran at the same time, Promulgates were published with news pertaining more to weekday students. The Promulgates were published by a student staff who had a faculty advisor, and were meant to keep Shimer students and faculty informed about news and events around campus. Along with including news, many Promulgates included literary pieces by Shimer students. From 2004-2006, the Promulgates even referred to itself as a literary magazine in spite of continuing to contain news as well.