January won’t only be the start of a new term. It will be the start of a new newspaper. While you’re enjoying a much deserved reprieve after exams, we’ll be busy retooling both the content and the look of the newspaper. Here’s a sneak peek:
The goal of our new Monday issues will be to catch you up on the week’s past events and help you plug into the many happenings on this campus. In its pages you will find:
A full page of listings, providing you a chance to find out about many of the free events on campus and the host of ongoing services provided by student government and the university. The page will provide a free way for our hundreds of student groups to promote their activities—cultural, political and educational events that help make this university experience more informative and enjoyable.
Full sports stats for the week, updating you on the standing of U of T’s 50-plus sporting teams. Athletics involves thousands of students on campus, and this page of statistics and rankings will be a way appreciate the hard work of those players and to let students know about the very inexpensive sports entertainment options on campus.
An expanded news section, helping you wrap your head around one of the country’s largest and most complicated universities. This will included greater coverage of the Scarborough and Erindale campuses and more reports on the issues faced by part-time and graduate students, who make up forty per cent of the student body.
Of course, the biggest changes will be happening in our Thursday issue, which will be renamed the Varsity weekend. Here you will find:
An expanded opinions section, providing an open forum for students to debate and share their ideas. We feel the best way to cover such a diverse community isn’t just to report on it, but to open up the newspaper and let more students share their considerable insights. One of the most positive changes we’ve seen in recent months is a flood of students wishing to write opinions and commentary pieces for the newspaper—this expanded section will provide them with that forum.
A full graphic cover. U of T has some incredibly talented photographers and graphic artists and we want to help them share their work with the community. The cover of the Varsity weekend will be a full-page image, featuring the best of student photography and art.
A more thorough arts and entertainment section. The massive amount of entertainment options in Toronto is both a blessing and a curse, so we’re going to help you sift through the mess and highlight some of the most interesting events occurring on and off campus.
Film, theatre, food, art, literature, even television will be covered here, providing you with some sure-fire options for each weekend.
Better off-campus distribution. We know that many of you aren’t here on Friday, and so we’re going to take the paper where you go—all around downtown Toronto. The goal isn’t only to make the Varsity easier to find, but to help bring the issues you face, and your voices as students—through our expanded opinions section—to the attention of a wider audience.
While doing these things, we’re also going to continue to develop the areas that have made this first term so enjoyable—the most important of which is the large influx of volunteers.
We’re planning training events hosted by top journalists every other week.
In addition to helping our existing writers develop their skills and better serve you, these events will hopefully provide an in for any other student looking to get involved the newspaper.
To that end, we’re also going to work to continue to break down any barriers between us and you, because as complimentary as it is to hear from you that the Varsity looks like a professional newspaper, we also want to make sure each and every one of you knows all it takes is a quick email to [email protected] to get involved in writing or shooting photographs for this publication.
Are we missing something in this plan? Probably.
So if you have a moments break from studying, don’t hesitate to email [email protected] and let us know what other changes we should put in place next term to serve you better.
