We Cambridge types are an ambitious lot. From Union hackery to earnest politicking for both Left and Right – and yes, even the odd bit of journalistic skulduggery – plenty of us dive into life in Cambridge with a more or less conscious desire to do ‘something extra’.

In many cases, it is this same drive which motivates us to work hard; it’s probably the means by which most of us earned a place in this institution.

However, in another respect, that same ambitious streak is precisely what allows us to get up each other’s noses so frequently. Hardly a week goes by that we don’t have cause to report on some row or other between members of this university.

In a system that necessarily pits us all against each other – a reality which has once again become all too evident of late, as thoughts turn to exams and the changes to the publication of class lists – it’s perhaps not surprising that this can sometimes result in the odd rivalry or two.

So, we’re all in it together, and yet we’re all fundamentally competing against each other – it’s a difficult balance.

The practical result of this is a rather mixed bag: we may furtively curse our rivals when they’re doing well, but we will all still gather around to commiserate and offer support when things aren’t looking so rosy.

For example, the other people on our courses are rivals in the exam hall, but our friends and peers outside it, and we rightly feel a need to be there in support when results day doesn’t go their way.

And so it is now. As we learn that the 17-year history of The Cambridge Student’s print run may well be coming to an end following a financial decision made by its parent organisation, CUSU, we stand with our rivals, peers, and friends.

TCS will be missed, and our thoughts go out to those who have lost what is by now something of a Cambridge institution, and something which matters a great deal to them.

Though TCS was in many senses founded as a trenchant rival to Varsity, and continues that particular habit to this day, with regular enough jibes, it will also be missed by all of us who have chosen to make student journalism our certain ‘something extra’.

After all, like those who study alongside us during our time in Cambridge, TCS has been part of a wider collegiate atmosphere – spurring us on to be better, to do better, and to get to stories faster.

It’s a shame, then, to see a part of that atmosphere disappear, just as it’s a shame to see any newspaper struggling in these difficult times.

But we can take some comfort from the knowledge that the spirit of friendly rivalry, which underlies so much of the Cambridge experience, and which undoubtedly drives much of this city’s student media, will not be disappearing with the ink-and-paper version of TCS.

As the fight goes on to save TCS’s print run, and as Cambridge’s other student outlets continue to look to the future, it’s clear that this is not the end of the road for the inquisitive, ambitious spirit which is so important here.