[1] The paper was founded as a result of the burgeoning cultural tensions on campus between Afrikaans and English students.

The SRC aimed to lessen the widening gap in political opinion advocated by each of these mouthpieces by launching a bilingual student newspaper.

The first editor, NC Gracie, chose the name claiming UCT had the right to the name "being the oldest [university] with the most inspiring record and the greatest tradition of tolerance and unity".

The paper maintained a spirit of liberalism during the apartheid years, with successive editors jailed and many editions incensing the National Party government.

Varsity provided an important function during the years of censorship since it operated under different constraints to the mainstream press who were often prevented from reporting on the country's growing liberation struggle.