This October, Imprint, the University of Waterloo’s independent student newspaper, will be evicted from their offices in the university’s Student Life Centre. The paper has leased the space from the university’s Federation of Students (Feds) for 37 years.
Carly McCready, Feds’ vice president operations and finance, offered no explanation for the decision. However, Jesse McGinnis, the chair of the Imprint Publications’ Board, alleged that the eviction aims to expand Feds’s own offices into the Student Centre, and to silence Imprint’s editorial coverage, which McGinnis says has, “occasionally, cast a bad light on Feds.”
After discussing other options, including doubled rent or outright expulsion from the building, Feds offered Imprint offices in the basement of the Student Life Centre, roughly half the size of their current space.
The University of Waterloo has expressed support for independent campus media, but is offering no assistance. However, McGinnis says: “I’m hopeful that should Feds not step up, the university will help us find a good home.”
— With files from Imprint.
