On Sunday nights, 47 pieces of paper with a bold title reading “Brotherhood Times" are taped on each door on the third floor of Samuel Morris Hall.
“I'm switching it to 48 now, because I'm going to put one under David Neel's door,” Ian Gerstbauer, a junior psychology major, said.
The newspaper, which claims it provides, “trusted news stories that enlighten members of the entire floor," features articles on recent happenings as well as two sections titled “Upcoming Events” and “Adverts, Tabloids and More."
Gerstbauer is the editor-in-chief of this weekly issue. Throughout the week, he compiles ideas, then spends an hour on Sundays writing, editing and designing the pages on Google Slides.
The newspaper has been intended to be read through the lens of sensationalism, Gerstbauer said. Each story is made as big and “crazy” as possible, a tactic he said is on brand for The Brotherhood.
Back in 2022, Caleb Couvion ’23, who held the position of the Snake on the floor, ran a monthly one-page newspaper known as “The Daily Plunger.” The piece would contain games, photos, stories and other things. Several of the current seniors on the floor said that they missed having that issue come out, Gerstbauer said.
“Last year, I found a lot of some of the old ones and read through a few of them,” Gerstbauer said. “It gave me the idea of bringing it back.”
There was another reason for the re-emergence of The Brotherhood’s newspaper on the floor.
Gerstbauer recalled during his time serving as a discipleship assistant on the floor last year, he noticed that there wasn’t a lot of awareness about announcements and events. While he put a calendar in the lobby, Gerstbauer saw a ripe opportunity to use the newspaper as a weekly schedule that could be tacked onto every room door.
“The main reason why I keep doing it is just because I find the articles funny, and so I have them all up on my wall,” Gerstbauer said. “I'll read through old ones and be like, 'Oh, yeah, I remember that joke.'"
A glimpse into his dorm room provides a view of that wall lined with 19 issues of “Brotherhood Times,” with the first one dating back to August 30th, 2025. It turns out the two-sided page can be decently inexpensive, Gerstbauer said. His weekly expense toll runs up to only $3.80 a week at five cents per page.
“I think that it captures a lot of the chaos pretty well,” Ethan Schmidt, a sophomore youth ministry major, said. “Even the satire bits add to it, which makes it all the more fun.”
Schmidt recalled waking up on a morning in August and walking outside of his room to find the issue stuck to his door. At that moment, he thought it was "cool" but didn’t pay a lot of attention to it. Several months later, he can count his own guest appearances in the newspaper.
A solid 60-70% of the material is based on true inspiration, Schmidt said. The rest of the information presented is “exaggerated,” “bedazzled,” or just completely made up.
Gerstbauer explored a story arc for several newspaper issues that focused on Sterling Davis, a senior computer science and math double major being hunted by the CIA, Schmidt said. While the story series was entirely satirical, Schmidt thought that it was highly entertaining to be on the lookout for the next “misadventures of Sterling.”
When Schmidt recently got promoted to Sergeant in the National Guard, his accomplishment was listed in the most recent issue of the newspaper. A mildly confused portrait of him was followed by a caption detailing how Schmidt will now outrank his former roommate, Nathaniel Berry, a sophomore politics and public service major.
Many of the articles are inspired by photos that Gerstbauer acquires during the week, Schmidt said.
On the second page of the newspaper, a short article reflects on a former member of The Brotherhood showing symptoms of Wengatz Hall in his performance during Nostalgia Night. The article carries on Samuel Morris Hall’s tradition of continuing to misspell Wengatz Hall, Schmidt said.
Just below this article is one that Schmidt described as a “100% satire account” of Ben Smoot, a senior marketing and management double major, and his journey to gain 200 pounds to compete in an upcoming summer sumo competition. The photo shows him wearing a black helmet with a chin strap, staring off into the unknown.
“This is not in any kind of competition with The Echo,” Schmidt said.
Gerstbauer intends to contribute to “Brotherhood Times” until he graduates in 2027, even though he said finals week might be challenging. Submissions can be made to ian_gerstbauer@taylor.edu.
