About

BSC Forward is the student-led publication of Birmingham-Southern College (BSC). Established in 2022, the site features the work of students who have been enrolled in EH204 and EH305, as well as student journalists from a variety of academic majors.

The Forward is the seventh student news publication of the college.

The first student newspaper was The Birmingham Reporter, launched in 1916 for Birmingham College. In 1918, Birmingham College and Southern University merged into Birmingham-Southern. Students of the new institution launched a newspaper called The Gold and Black in 1919. That title ran until 1938.

During the 1938-1939 school year, The Gold and Black became The Hilltop News. Thus began 30 years of certain students reminding others that “Hilltop” was one word, not two, and that the publication should be abbreviated THN, even though HTN sounded better. The title lasted until 1968.

In 1967, students Julie Brumlik ’68 and Howard Cruse ’68 launched an alternative publication called Granny Takes a Trip. Like so many alt publications, Granny was so popular it went legit. The run lasted a year and a half.

From the fall of 1968 to the spring of 1977, the BSC student newspaper was called The Southerner. From 1977 to 2013, the student newspaper had its last run as The Hilltop News. The print edition was published biweekly in the spring and fall terms for more than 20 years, then monthly in the 1990s and into the 21st century.

Another alt publication appeared on the Hilltop around 2013. There are few extant copies of Hilltop Gerald, but it was a high-quality zine.

Student journalists launched Bagheera in 2014, naming the new magazine after the wily panther in The Jungle Book. The cover photo of the first issue depicted a copy of The Hilltop News on fire. Bagheera lasted six years, enjoying an unexpected boost in popularity in 2018 when an anonymous student launched a parody Instagram account called Badgheera. The final print issue was published during the Fall 2020 term.

You can explore the history of all BSC publications, including journals, yearbooks and newsletters, on the Digital Collections page of the BSC Library.