The Spectrum began its two-year run on November 4, 1965, as the student newspaper for the South Bend-Mishawaka Campus of Indiana University; by the time it was replaced by the South Bend Campus Student in the Spring 1968 semester, the campus was known as Indiana University South Bend. When established, it was one of two student publications with editorial staffs appointed by a four-member faculty committee; the other was the literary magazine Realm (which evolved into the still-running Analecta).