The Varsity | 2,607 followers on LinkedIn. The University of Toronto's student newspaper since 1880 | The Varsity, founded in 1880, is the University of Toronto's and Canada's largest student newspaper. It publishes weekly, with a distribution of over 18,000 copies per issue, and one of the most-visited student-newspaper websites in the country. The Varsity is entirely student-run, and is funded through advertising and a student levy.