SC018 Gadfly

Unlike other newspapers that communicated news to the Shimer student body as a whole, the 2004-2012 Gadfly was the only newsletter published specifically for the students in Shimer’s weekend program. This program catered to students, usually working adults, who could not attend college during the week but wanted to get a degree nonetheless. The Gadfly was published on weekends with the goal to make these students feel like a part of the Shimer community, even though they were on campus less frequently than others. Along with general campus news, lunch menus, and business hours for campus offices, the Gadfly contained news about events around campus that weekend students could attend and use to get to know weekday students.

The Gadfly began its run toward the end of Shimer’s stay on its Waukegan, Illinois campus. In August 2006, the college would move to rent space on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus in Chicago, where it would stay until its was integrated as the Shimer Great Books School at North Central College in 2017. It was during Shimer’s stay in Chicago that the Gadfly ended its run. Notably, the weekend program did not continue into Shimer’s stay at North Central.