The Madisonensis continued as the student newspaper and literary magazine. Regularly featured were editorials, essays, campus and village jottings (or gossip), college exchanges and alumni notes. There were also occasional poems, book reviews and reminiscences. President Dodge held to a no-censorship policy for the paper even though some items might seem to call for deletion or correction. He regarded the printed comments as “a vent to what was more likely to be harmful if repressed.
The first number of the yearbook, Salmagundi, appeared in 1883. Published by the Junior Class, its editor was James C. Colgate. The title, meaning a miscellany or medley, may well have been suggested by the Washington Irving, James K. Paulding periodical bearing the same name. Its contents, which covered the wide gamut of college activities included lists of faculty, fraternities and other organizations and their membership. Its antecedents were The Madisonensian, which first appeared in 1858, and other publications issued at commencement to inform alumni and friends of the extracurricular achievements of the past year.
Student government, as such, seems to have become dormant after 1872, perhaps because the growing interest in class organizations and other specific groups brought students together. The Dormitory Association, established in 1886, was helpful in maintaining cleanliness and quiet in the college buildings. The Society of Inquiry, which had been active in earlier periods, became moribund but was not to be dissolved until 1893. The Young Men’s Christian Association, founded in 1881 as a branch of the national organization, moved into its place. The Y’s emphasis was on the implications of Christianity in campus and community life rather than on foreign missions. In 1885 the Academy students set up their own YMCA which carried on an active program. There were also other short-lived clubs to foster special interests such as in history, German, and debating.
As was true in many colleges, the literary societies, the Adelphian and Aeonian, deteriorated, thanks doubtless to the flourishing fraternities which took over their objectives of promoting an interest in public speaking and writing as well as maintaining boarding clubs and providing opportunities for social life. The Greek letter societies were definitely in the ascendant. Faculty hostility had changed to acceptance and Dr. Dodge, a loyal Alpha Delta Phi since his college years at
