A group of serious, hardworking intellectuals published Rivet, the campus humor magazine, according to the 1949 Debris. Circulated as Limp Rivet in 1947, the tome had shortened its moniker by the following year due to the “suggestive” title. “The clever style of presenting campus problems and discussing them with an air of superimposed authority has made the Rivet just what it aims to be — all for fun,” Debris editors penned in 1950. “Drawings in the articles and advertisements caricaturize every type of coed from the pulchritudinous to the beastly and bring out the often hidden meaning behind a joke.”

Caricatures, cartoons, jokes, “sarcasm, satire, and slapstick sparkle” filled the pages of each edition, as advertised in the 1963 Debris. The issues would appear at random, so readers never knew quite when to expect a new publication. Despite the sporadic schedule, the Rivet enjoyed a circulation of approximately 3,000 copies in the late 1950s. 

Rivet staff particularly enjoyed creating novelty issues that parodied popular national magazines — they published Tyme, LIKE, and Playbouy, among others, throughout the periodical’s run. The Rivet ceased printing — at least as a university-sanctioned magazine — by the early 1970s.