The newspaper's title, meaning "of or pertaining to union," was most likely suggested by Frederic F. Chisholm class of 1879 and has been in use since 1890.

The students claimed Sweeney had acted openly intoxicated and behaved inappropriately, making hostile remarks towards one female about her political affiliations.

Co-editors-in-chief Matt Smith and Alla Abramov made the decision to run the story based on a lack of denial from Sweeney's camp.

With the help of former editor-in-chief Joanna Stern, Smith and Abramov faxed copies to local Albany newspapers.

The New York Times gave the story full coverage and ran the cell phone photos that had appeared in the Concordiensis.