In March 2020, The Varsity’s Public Editor published an article titled “Black History Month demands respectful reporting.” As the position requires, then-Public Editor Osobe Waberi held our paper in check by reflecting on the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor’s process of putting together the issue and — importantly — recording a list of dos and don’ts for journalists at The Varsity and beyond. 

Not only did the items on Waberi’s list inform our reporting since they were first published, but our consultations with the Black Students’ Association (BSA) also largely shaped our editorial decisions in creating our initial Black History Month (BHM) issues. 

The Varsity has only begun publishing an annual BHM issue not so long ago in 2019. What began as a suggestion from a couple of masthead members’ evolved into a yearly issue featuring a cover illustrated by a Black artist on campus — an idea also suggested by the BSA — and full of articles that highlight diverse Black student experiences both on campus and beyond. 

Unlike the process that birthed our BHM issue, our recent processes have been significantly less collaborative. The previous volume acknowledged this in the 2024 BHM issue’s Letter from the Editor, and I regret that our current volume did not approach our BHM issue so differently. 

As of fall 2024, Black students made up 5.57 per cent of U of T’s three campuses, while other racialized groups like East Asian students comprised 33.94 per cent and white students made up 24.73 per cent. Although the people who compose The Varsity’s current Masthead are not the same as Waberi’s colleagues at the time — none of whom were Black-identifying — Black students are still a minority at our paper, whether it be among our school, Masthead, or contributors. 

Given this, our BHM issues in recent years have begun through our school-wide emails to reach all full-time students across three campuses. While we’ve received an incredible number of emails this year from students looking to write, draw, and edit for this issue, we know that this is only the first step. Our responsibility is to ensure that the students stay with us with the knowledge that our paper is a place worth returning to. 

Marking the sixth anniversary of our first BHM issue, we want to return to why the first issue was possible in the first place: collaboration and consultation. The Varsity’s BHM issue exists not to mark the pinnacle of discourse but to revisit and evaluate our commitment to incorporate Black writers, illustrators, photographers, and stories regularly into our weekly coverage, so that a BHM issue does not vary much from our other weekly issues.

But has our coverage reflected the ultimate end goal of our BHM issue?

No.

And we want to do better — not just through a single letter like this but through a constructive feedback and application system. We’ve sent out a survey to the BSAs across our three campuses, the African Students Association at UTM and UTSC, and numerous other Black student groups, which asks for an evaluation of The Varsity’s coverage of Black students and communities in the past years. This feedback will help us inform our future editorial and visual decisions in representing Black communities.

We’re also extending this form to you — our readers that we serve — for your feedback. In the form, you’ll also have the option to choose to meet with me and our Managing Editor, Internal, Ajeetha, should you wish for further discussions. The form will be open until March 10, and at the end of this volume, we will share with you a summary of your responses and our established commitments for the volumes to come. 

This is still the beginning. And we want to take the next step forward with you.