Windsor U student newspaper will cut 5 positions, reduce staff salaries
The Lance will be cutting at least five staff positions and will reduce the salaries of remaining staff following a new budget approved by the University of Windsor Student Alliance last week.
The 85-year-old newspaper was ordered to end all its print productions last month after the student government balked at its $24,000 reported deficit. After an outpouring of student reaction, the board allowed the newspaper to publish its final edition of the semester and ordered it to come up with a new budget plan. According to a notice posted on The Lance’s website, the board voted against all three budget scenarios presented by the student newspaper.
It instead approved a budgeted revenue of $133,000 and a $5,000 capital grant for the 2013-2014 publishing year, compared to last year’s budget of $188,000. The student alliance also rejected an offer from the university president to share the cost of the newspaper’s deficit.
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“The UWSA’s directive means that The Lance will be cutting at least five positions from the newspaper: managing editor, associate news editor, multimedia editor, reporter and illustrator,” said the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Natasha Marar. “Publication will be reduced from 38 issues this year to 30, including the loss of all but one of its summer issues. The Lance may also be forced to cut the number pages it prints. These concessions will translate into a reduction of quality and frequency of coverage for university and community issues.”
Tamara Baluja is an award-winning journalist with CBC Vancouver and the 2018 Michener-Deacon fellow for journalism education. She was the associate editor for J-Source from 2013-2014.