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® from the editors

September 12 2012 - Over the Edge

Volume 19, Issue 1
September 12, 2012

A&E EDITOR
Jordan Tucker

COPY EDITOR
Ben Filipkowski

NEWS EDITOR
Hanna Petersen

SPORTS EDITOR
Geoff Sargent

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Reza Akbari

FEATURES EDITOR
Gala Munoz

MANAGING EDITOR
Shelley Termuende

WEBSITE MANAGER
Behrooz Dalvandi

STUDENT LIFE EDITOR
Leila Maheiddinibonab

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Randy Roy

CONTRIBUTORS
Jessica Bagnall
Miranda Wallace

The deadline for the next issue

is Monday, September 17th.

Be sure to get your articles in
on time!

Over the Edge is the official
independent publishing media of
students at the University of Northern
British Columbia.

As such, it is our mandate to report on
issues of interest to students in the North-
ern Region. We encourage all students,
both on the main and regional campuses
to submit to Over the Edge.

Over the Edge is part of the Canadian Uni-
versity Press network of papers, otherwise
known as CUP.

CUP is an organization that is entirely
owned by member papers, and provides
such services as a news wire and advertis-
ing to Over the Edge.

Over the Edge is published every second
week during the fall and winter semesters.

Office Location: 6-350

MAILING ADDRESS
3333 University Way
Prince George, BCV2N 4Z9

PHONE (250) 960-5633
FAX (250) 960-5407
E-mail ote-copy@unbc.ca

| Over the edge.indd 2

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA

As | entered my fourth semester at
UNBC, majoring in the Commerce
program, | joined the Over the
Edge (OTE) editorial team as the
production coordinator assistant.
It was a volunteer position. The
production coordinator at the time
was a dedicated member of OTE and
taught me many different aspects
of publishing a newspaper. The
following winter in 2008, | officially
took on the position of production
coordinator myself. As time passed,
however, | noticed many issues
with the structure of OTE. The roots
of all of these problems lay in the
fact that OTE had not seen any
structural changes in its operation
since the paper had become an
independent student organization
in 2000. As a result, some issues
had become major problems for
OTE over the previous 8 years,
such as the hiring and recruiting
motivated staff, management of
the editorial board, developing and
improving the skills of the editorial
board and its volunteers, as well as
overseeing the financial activities of
OTE. In other words, Over the Edge
had been facing operational issues
while simultaneously being a place
for students to practice journalism
and act as the voice of students ina
professional manner.

Upon this realization, | started
studying our existing constitution
and educating myself with the BC
Society Act and its policies. | then
followed up with CUP (Canada
University Press) and the BC Society
Registry, and sought opinions and
direction from experts such as
a professor in Human Resources

Management at UNBC, a former
president of NUGSS, one of the
former Editors in Chief of this paper
and a member of board of directors
of CFUR. | created a series of
changes that | believed we needed
to apply to the constitution and
bylaws of OTE. In order to move
forward and present the package
at our AGM (Annual General
Meeting) to the UNBC student
body, | needed the support of all
the members of editorial board
at that time. Unfortunately, | was
faced with a lack of motivation
from my team, and the changes
were never presented at the AGM.
| could not see myself continuing
on as a member of the board at OTE
with the existing issues we faced; |
resigned from the board in February
2009. | always felt I left OTE with an
unfinished task. However, | kept my
eye on OTE and waited for the right
time to come to try again.

| graduated in April 2010 and
Started my Marsters degree in
January 2011 while working full
time for Coca-Cola Refreshments as
the Business Development Manager
for Northern BC. In March 2012, two
of my good friends were members
of editorial board at OTE and came
to me regarding the organization
of their AGM, | explained the
history of OTE for them as | knew
it. | described all the issues with
the operation and structure of
OTE, and they agreed with me. My
friends were Marsters students,
however, and were busy with their
thesis and other activities that they
were involved with. | knew it would
not be easy for them to take on

new responsibilities that could be
challenging and time consuming.
“You can do it friend,’ | said. “Just
take the control of the situation
and together we can develop the
motivation among the editorial
board members and _ proceed
toward shaping this paper properly.”
| knew my friend’s personality and
her strengths, and | knew that she
would be the right person to help
me to create the changes to the
OTE structure that | always believed
were necessary. | just needed to
find a way to encourage her to take
control of the boat, and realize the
potential value and legacy that
these changes could give to our
student newspaper.

Finally she agreed and we started
working together towards
achieving our goals. In May 2012,
| applied for the vacant position of
Editor in Chief. | was hired on May
12th 2012. Right from that time
my two friends and | have been
working closely together to develop
a platform for improving the
newspaper. The first step was hiring
a team of qualified and motivated
editors; we received 19 applications
for 8 vacant positions during this
past summer. Another big project
was to improve our social media
presence on Facebook, Twitter, and
our new official website. Jessica
Shapiro, my Masters friend who
became the Managing Editor of the
paper, and Behrooz Dalvandi, who is
now the Website Manager for OTE,
worked together to develop and
design a website that is attractive,
user friendly, and provides reliable
information for anyone who visits

our website. Make sure you check it
out: www.ote.unbc.ca.

Today, OTE has a team of editorial
board members who are motivated
to work together and improve their
skills and the quality of the UNBC
student newspaper. | would like
to proudly announce to all of the
students and faculty members of
UNBC that the current editorial
board is committed to apply all
the necessary changes to the OTE
operational structure in order to
publish a quality paper that truly
represents the voice of UNBC ‘s
students. This will not be achievable
without your support, as this paper
belongs to all students of UNBC.

| would like to expand my great
appreciation to Fraser Hayes,
Station Manager at CFUR, and
Kallie Smith, President of NUGSS,
who supported us during the hiring
process of this great team. Thank
you as well to Behrooz Dalvandi for
developing our website, John Hall
for his readiness to take on different
responsibilities over the past few
months, and a special thanks to
Jessica Shapiro for her dedication
to the paper, and the many hours
of volunteer work she put in to
realize our shared vision for a better
paper. Jessica, without you | would
still be carrying the feeling of an
unfinished task in my mind. Also,
| would like to thank all of the
current editorial board members
for agreeing to get in this boat that
is not only going to publish a great
newspaper, but develop a platform
for a better future at Over the Edge
Newspaper.

09/09/2012 9:25:59 PM |