The Dalhousie Gazette

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The Dalhousie Gazette (more commonly referred to as "The Gazette") is the main student publication at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The paper first began publishing in 1868, making it the oldest student newspaper in Canada (The Brunswickan, printed out of the University of New Brunswick, actually predates The Gazette by a year, but began printing in magazine format).

The Gazette's weekly circulation is 10,000, making it Halifax's second-largest free publication (after the independent weekly The Coast). The Gazette is run, financed and published by the Dalhousie Gazette Publishing Society, a group of students made up from the Gazette's editors, contributors, and The Dalhousie Gazette Publishing Board. The society operates independently of the Dalhousie Student Union, though the paper does charge an annual student levy through the DSU (approx $5.00 per student each academic year) as a means of complementing its advertising income.

The Gazette's primary mandate is to scrutinize and report on the financial, social and administrative powers of the Dalhousie Student Union, its student societies, and the Dalhousie University administration. Within this mandate, the Gazette also covers events and news related to the Dalhousie community, student body, and alumni. In addition to its op/ed pages, the Gazette publishes a weekly, unsigned editorial that normally advances an argument regarding university or government policy. Since the early 1990s, the paper, along with the Dalhousie Student Union, has taken an active role in calling for changes in post-secondary education funding in Canada — an issue that is particularly relevant to Dalhousie students, who pay one of the highest tuition fees in Canada.

As one of Halifax's major independent publications, the Gazette's Dalhousie-centric mandate has often been expanded to include issues outside of the university community proper. Recent publication years of the Gazette gave seen a large emphasis on international events, local artists, and regional politics. Reflecting this independent disposition, the Gazette's layout has dispensed with front-page story copy, printing instead a full-cover graphic (usually a photograph) and large teasers with page numbers under the fold (similar to the layouts of some independent weekly newspapers or news magazines).

Along with their Dalhousie counterparts, University of King's College students have made significant contributions to the paper despite being outside of the Gazette's levy umbrella. Aside from providing the paper with many staff reporters and photographers, King's students and alumni have recently filled some of The Gazette's top editorial positions. The Editors in Chief for the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 years were King's alumni, and significant portions of the newspaper's editorial staff over the years has come from King's.

A typical issue of the Gazette in 2005/2006 was between 20-28 11x17 pages, with approximately 1,000-2,000 words appearing per page. As of 2006, the Gazette has 12 paid editors, an office manager, a business manager and a graphics artist on staff.

[edit] External links

• Official website