Sry ee TOR, | A L.

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IT’S GOODBYE to this turbulent old rag for me as editor. After 3 semesters of obsession I’m handing the reigns over to two new editors. Cora-Lee DesRoches and Dawnne Chappelle were elected by the staff as co-editors for 1988/89 and I wish them good luck. tis

My main goal for this paper has been to make it something worth reading; a newspaper that’s read and has something to say to the stu- dents. This year has seen an increase in weekly circulation from 1300 copies to 1500 and finally to 1700. And it’s still hard to find a copy of The Gem anywhere on campus Friday mornings.

Our page count has increased from 12 pages each week to 16 and 20. We’ve gone from scrambling to find enough stuff to fill 12 pages each week to having too much for a 20 pager.

I’d like to leave some advice to the incoming editors and to the Stu- dent Union. ;

The Student Union may pay the bills for the paper, but the SU must recognize the right and necessity for The Gem staff to run the paper themselves. Without freedom to organize and determine the content of this paper as the staff sees fit, The Gem will spiral:'down to the level it once was. Worse, it will become nothing but a weekly flier harping the virtues of the SU. Freedom includes the right to determine to which associations The Gem belongs, including CUP membership. There is no Student Union official qualified to make decisions regarding content or association for a newspaper.

In turn, the editors or staff of The Gem must never ever get the idea that this paper is theirs. The absolute control over what goes in The Gem and the long hours of work can easily make an editor believe the paper is their baby. Wrong. The Gem belongs solely to the students and it is the responsibility of the editors and staff to serve them.

In practical terms this means printing items of interest to the stu- dents, rather than that of interest to the staff. It means hanging out in The Pit asking people’s opinions on the paper and being open to sug- gestions for improvement. It means encouraging and helping on-campus societies and non-staff write columns or letters to the paper. It means keeping ‘inside jokes’ to a minimum. And it means always encouraging new students to join the paper. The staff and editors ultimately decide what to write and print, but must decide with an ear pressed firmly to the wall of the student’s needs.

It’s been fun and a privilege to be editor. J haven't heen able te do all I planned, but with any luck and a few fanatically obsessed staff members, the paper will continue to improve.

—Derrick Webber Editor-in-Chief

“We live under a government of men and (morn-

ing) newspapers.’ ile g) papers — Theophile Gautier —

Derrick Webber, Editor-in-Chief

oe Mollison, Production Editor Derrick Cameron, Advertising Manager Darrell Cole, Sports

Karen Cullen, Photographer

Dolly Bhatia, CUP Editor

Darlene Llewellyn, Typesetter

James Connolly, Systems Manager

STAFF MEMBERS:

Dawne Chappelle, Kaberi Dasgupta, Cora-

Lee Des Roches, Anne Irving, Bobbi Sue Keat- ing, Jim McGrath, David MacKinnon, Dan Mullen Lisa Murphy, Claire Murray,,.,.Mark. Walker, Matthew Beardsley, Sam Okello, Ellen:

’ Perry, and Chris Vessey. e

This Week’s Contributors:

Heather Rossiter, Rhonda McLellan, and the Ingineers.

The Gem welcomes contributions of articles, poems, short stories, or ideas. Please ask for a copy of our ‘GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIB- UTORS’. Contributions can be dropped off at the Barn, sent through VAX MAIL to GEM, or stuck on our door down in the basement of the utility building.

We cherish typed and double spaced sub- missions and submissions on computer disk or through VAX mail. For legal reasons, all submis- sions must include the author’s name and phone number. However, names will be withheld from publication on request.

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We cherish. typed and double spaced sub- missions and submissions on computer disk or through VAX mail. For legal reasons, all submis- sions must include the author’s name and phone number. However, names will be withheld from publication on request.

We reserve the right to edit submissions due to space or taste limitations. shana “TA