 The university had not yet formed a school for mass communication, so publishing the newspaper was the responsibility of a modest journalism effort, offering four or five basic news writing and editing courses and run by its English department.In the summer of 1966, Dr. Arthur M. Sanderson, director of student publications and English professor, entered into an agreement with the "St. Petersburg Times" to print an entire stand-alone newspaper which would be distributed on campus each Wednesday.Associate communications professor and Oracle general manager Steve Yates, editor-in-chief Harry Haigley and photographer/reporter Tony Zappone collaborated in naming it "The Oracle," a Greek term signifying an infallible authority, among other things.