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The Mercer Cluster is the official bi-weekly student newspaper of Mercer University, published in print every other Thursday and online seven days a week during the school year. While production and distribution of The Cluster's print edition is subsidized by Mercer's administration, the paper retains full editorial autonomy as a student publication under the University's bylaws. Its staff is composed entirely of students, with the exception of a faculty advisor who serves in a consulting role.

Origins
Students started publishing The Cluster in 1920. The paper got its name from a book of hymns penned by Mercer University founder and prominent Baptist minister Jesse Mercer in 1810, entitled a "Cluster of Spiritual Songs." Former Cluster writers and editors include longtime Atlanta publisher Jack Tarver, attorney and author Robert Steed, novelist and physician Ferrol Sams and Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor J. Reginald Murphy. For most of its history, The Cluster has been the only newspaper published by students of Mercer University. In 1971, a group of students began publishing "Mercer Today" as an alternative to The Cluster, but the operation folded by 1977.

Controversies
In October 2005, The Cluster ran an opinions piece and full-page advertisement in support of a pro-LGBT student organization's first annual "Coming Out Day." . News of the event sparked a month-long dispute between University president R. Kirby Godsey and the Georgia Baptist Convention, eventually leading the religious group to sever its 170-year-old ties and multi-million dollar endowment to the University out of a concern that Mercer had, as a report by CNN put it, become "more liberal than its Southern Baptist roots" Today Mercer remains a religiously independent institution.

Present-day operations
In 2011, The Cluster launched its online edition in an effort to broaden its reach to students and the surrounding community. The following fall, the paper also added a new "Local" section in an additional push to broaden its geographic reach to the increasingly gentrified neighborhoods that compose the surrounding {[College Hill Alliance|College Hill Corridor]] area.

Despite its growing focus on its online operations, The Cluster maintains an estimated print circulation of around 1,500 copies, which are distributed for free throughout the University's main campus as well as downtown Macon businesses.