An editorial in the first issue described its initial intended purpose as one that would "keep you up to date on the 'times' at Pitt" – from the changing face of the campus to the activities of the alumni, from the antics of the students to the deeper emotional involvements of education today.

[1] The paper again faced controversy over the alleged censorship of a 1994 story on the first gay wedding to occur in the university's Heinz Memorial Chapel.

However, Leon Haley, then publisher of the newspaper, defended the decision in saying that it was "not university policy to write stories about events at Heinz Chapel.

Ken Hall, one of the men married in the ceremony, also stated that he "didn't want any notoriety or controversy to mar the occasion.

[7] Special annual issues include the "Back to School Issue", which describes all of the new people, places and things at the university at the beginning of each academic year,[8] as well as a "Books, Journals, and More" supplement that recognizes faculty and staff who have written, edited, or translated books or those who have primary responsibility for journals, electronic publications, plays, or musical compositions.