An advertising deal with the University of Windsor and the University of Windsor Student Alliance (UWSA) has saved the university’s campus newspaper, the Lance, from its outstanding debts, according to editor-in-chief Sarah Horwath.
“The university and UWSA are going to assume the Lance’s outstanding debts through an advertising deal,” she said. “Both parties will be given $15,266 in advertising for paying $5,088 annually for three years.”
As the Lance collects on outstanding debts, Horwath said the amount paid out by the two parties may decrease.
Horwath said the Lance’s new staff is determined to maintain good financial standing this year.
“We are being very conservative with our spending,” she said. “Even though we have now stabilized financially, we still need to be frugal and maintain good business practices. This includes making sure advertisers pay on time.”
Horwath said the Lance now has a smaller staff, but they will not let that compromise the newspaper’s quality.
She also said the paper’s editorial freedom will also not be compromised as a result of the financial support they are receiving from the university and student union.
The newspaper has a contract which ensures that the Lance will continue to publish content without interference, according to Horwath.
“The UWSA agrees to allow the Lance complete and unfettered content freedom . . . the UWSA agrees that the editorial content of the Lance shall not be interfered with by the UWSA in any way whatsoever,” the contract states, according to Horwath.
The university and UWSA intend to keep the newspaper at arm’s length so there is little concern that they will want to change the way the Lance operates, she said.
“Although we fall under the umbrella of the UWSA and have to report our finances to them, they really don’t have much involvement in how the Lance is run,” Horwath said. “It is our goal to seek separation and independence.”
UWSA president Robert Crawford confirmed the student association would only have influence over the newspaper financially going forward, rather than editorially.
In April 2013, the UWSA told the Lance to shut down print operations as a result of its deficit. Crawford, who came into office afterwards, said he felt this was the wrong decision.
“When I came into office . . . I was reviewing our agreement with the Lance and it became pretty clear to me that by us informing them to shut down their print operations actually went against this agreement,” he said. “We also had an agreement with them that we would provide them financial support and oversight so I felt as though it was part of our due diligence to do so.”
Crawford said the association had an obligation to help save the newspaper.
“We wanted to strengthen our relationship with the newspaper. There’s no reason that we should be working against them and I think there’s definitely circumstances where the student union and the newspaper need to work together,” he said. “Their job is to hold us accountable and I think that’s important. The Lance really serves as the voice of students in a lot of circumstances so it’s very important that we don’t infringe on that voice.”
