From its first crudely-produced mimeographed sheet in October 1946, to its final issue thirty-five years later in the spring of 1981, the Polar Star created controversy. Founded as a mild voice of student protest, the Polar Star was always unpredictable. Some years it was quite good and others it was downright unreadable.

With the creation of a full-fledged journalism department in 1966 headed by Jimmy Bedford, which offered a major in journalism for the first time, the Polar Star became a natural outlet for aspiring reporters. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Polar Star was a training ground for many professional journalists including Kent Sturgis, Phil Deischer, Jean Kizer, Kim Elton, Dermot Cole, Susan McInnis, Brian Rogers, Howard Ringley, Julie Hart, Craig Medred, Carl Sampson, and many others.

Any good newspaper is bound to offend on occasion, but depending on the personality of the editor, the Polar Star sometimes read like the Polar Enquirer, libeling its way through the news. In 1979 the journalism department created a rival paper with a synonymous name to do battle with the Polar Star: the Northern Sun. Even though the Sun was supervised by members of the journalism department, not all readers thought it any better than its student-directed competition. "As a matter of fact," one writer complained in February 1980, "except for the lack of typos and the name of the paper, the Northern Sun and the Polar Star are practically identical."

In the fall of 1980, ASUA President Jason Kuehn started "impeachment" proceedings against Polar Star editor Mark Springer, claiming the paper was misusing ASUA funds. The following year the Polar Star, the university's oldest publication, merged with the Northern Sun, creating a new paper with a double-twin bill for a name: the Sun Star. The editorial staff assured readers Sun Star was merely an "interim name" until a better one could be found. Apparently they could not think of another name, as Sun Star still shine from the top of the front page every week.

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