Student publication The Cambridge Student is not currently operational, after 23 years at the heart of journalism in Cambridge.

TCS did not hire new editors, after the previous editor failed to open a recruitment process, a source told Varsity.

The Students’ Union, which publishes the paper, said they would be advertising for a new team soon, and that they were looking forward to the paper returning in the “near-future”.

The last article on the TCS website was published at the end of June. The publication’s social media accounts have not been used since the end of May.

Speaking to Varsity, the 2011 co-editor of the paper, Zoah Hedges-Stocks, urged Cambridge’s budding student journalists to get involved: “It’s a shame that no students have stepped forward to run TCS this term”, she said.

“Having a plurality of news outlets is good for the student body and makes for better, more interesting journalism. If readers don’t want to get involved with TCS (or any other soc) because they think it’s a bit rubbish, I would urge them to get stuck in and create the kind of content that they want to see.”

TCS is owned and published by the Students’ Union and was founded in 1999. It previously covered news, culture, lifestyle and arts in Cambridge. The paper made national headlines with its coverage of animal rights abuses and photography of the tuition fee protests in 2010.

In April 2016, it was announced that the paper’s print edition would be cut by the Students’ Union, turning TCS into an online-only newspaper. Cuts took place as CUSU (as the SU was then known) was in a “difficult position” financially.

At the time, the chair of the Student Publication Association, Jem Collins, said that she was “totally baffled” by the decision, adding: “it may sound overblow, but student media really is vital to both university life and democracy, keeping students informed and holding power to account.”