The 10 Link Covers You Need to See

Posted by Pierre Chauvin in From the Archives on March 14, 2013

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In its 33 years of existence, The Link has accumulated an impressive amount of archives. Provocative, historical, timely or just funny, here are 10 memorable covers from The Link and The Georgian (The Link ’s ancestor).

• The 1967 Occupation (above)

In 1967, students at Sir George Williams University (which later became Concordia) occupy the Hall Building during an overnight sleep-in aimed at putting pressure on the university to negotiate the bookstore’s pricing policy.

• “The Black Georgian”

During the 1969 Computer Riot crisis at Sir George Williams, students protest the administration’s lack of response after several West Indian students accuse a professor of racist grading policies.

During this tense period, The Georgian lets the Black Students’ Association publish an issue to express their complaints. The issue, named the “Black Georgian” for its all-black cover, is seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police due to libellous content. To our knowledge, all copies are destroyed. Forty years later, The Link revisits the issue.

• The Birth of The Link

Volume 1, Issue 1. The Link prints its first-ever issue after The Georgian and The Loyola News agree to merge, becoming Concordia’s first independent student newspaper.

• Nuclear Disarmament

The Link publishes a special issue calling for nuclear disarmament. Yes, we were hippies. Yes, we were that cool.

• A Classic

“Tintin and the Midterm Exams” is a pretty unique cover. It’s a great parody of the famous Belgian comic-book hero, even though it doesn’t have much to do with the issue’s actual content. But you know, we all know the feeling of going through midterms: it’s exactly like being chased by a pterodactyl.

• “Expo 86: Countdown to the World’s Unfair”

A Time magazine parody, a pun on the 1986 Vancouver World Exhibition and a cover that actually reflects on the content of the issue. What more can you ask for?

• The Y2K Bug Issue (Or How to Test the University’s Sense of Humour)

For the first issue of 2000, The Link prints an issue warning students that the Y2K bug erased their Fall 1999 semester grades and that they won’t get their credits. Many people don’t get the joke, and the university is overwhelmed with complaints from worried students.

The following issue, the university registrar publishes a letter in The Link saying she is “both amazed and horrified by the front page of this issue.”

“It is not humorous, it is irresponsible,” she writes. I can only imagine the editors’ reactions while reading the letter.

• Fight Back

In 2001, students upset by The Link ’s coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict start to circulate a petition trying to shut down The Link. Thankfully, they fail.

• Special Joint Issue for the Summit of the Americas

In an unprecedented move (and never performed again since), six Canadian student newspapers— The Link, The McGill Daily, Le Délit français, Le Collectif, Quartier Libre, Montréal Campus, Impact Campus and La Rotonde —join forces to print a bilingual special issue about the 2001 Summit of the Americas, held in Quebec City.

• Student Apathy

This cover tackles an issue older than this university: student apathy. While we’re still searching for the magic solution that will turn 90 per cent of Concordia students—that is, approximately the number of students who don’t vote in student union elections—from a zombified state into informed students, this cover is quite, well, memorable.