Our Legacy

For the past century, the Ivy Leaves Journal has been the only published voice for Anderson University’s student body. This publication began its journey in 1916, when it was founded by a self-organized group of students, women who envisioned a platform for self-expression and recognition of individual initiative. The result of their endeavor was the inaugural edition of our journal; The Orion. Within these earliest pages, our founders illustrated the journal’s purpose: “The Orion is the spontaneous conception of a college life seriously considering itself… We take our stand positively on the side of expression as opposed to repression, constraint as opposed to restraint. Therefore, our college magazine is not something instituted by administrative authority. A self-governing student body ordains it.” Written and produced by a class of young women in the early 20th century, a journal such as The Orion was, in its era, a rare moment of unfettered expression. A moment that could not have passed without shaking the perception of women in their small town. The Orion is more than our publication’s past. Every spring, its influential legacy endures in pages brand new.

Though the journal was relaunched and renamed in 1964, almost forty years after its first publication, the Ivy Leaves Journal maintains The Orion’s original vision. Ivy Leaves evolves with our students to encompass broader perspectives, new ideas, and innovative modes of expression. This very evolution represents the women who founded our journal, and their intentions for what Ivy Leaves should be; an autonomous publication of creative work that gives voice to our students. We honor the power of these voices every year, recounting their stories and contributing to a transformative legacy that began over a century ago. 

This Archive is a home for the heart of our mission; the stories we have told, and the stories we have yet to tell.