their student governments, either through financing or governance. The Varsity examined the independence of student newspapers across Canada to see how autonomy — or lack thereof — can affect a paper’s content and operations.

Silhouette

In 2006, the Editor-in-Chief of the Silhouette, McMaster University’s campus newspaper, was fired by two members of the McMaster Students Union (MSU), supposedly “without cause.”

Unlike The Ubyssey, the Silhouette still operates as a service of the MSU. However, the Silhouette and the General Manager of the MSU — who was one of the executives who fired the Editor-in-Chief in 2006 — are committed to the lessons learned from the situation and have been working closely together since then.

Silhouette’s main connection to the MSU is through its Board of Publication, which approves its budget and publishingand goal plan to the Journal Advisory Board, which consists of the Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editor, who share one vote on the board, Vice-President of Operations and Media Services Director of the AMS, who also share one vote, a representative from the AMS Board of Directors, two members of the Journal’s editorial board, a representative from the Society of Graduate and Professional Students, three students-at-large, the Journal’s Business Manager, who is non-voting, and the AMS General Manager, who is also non-voting.

“Our goal plan and budget go through the Journal Advisory Board for approval first and then go to the AMS Board of Directors for approval as well,” said Editor-in-Chief Joseph Cattana.

According to Cattana, decisions about the masthead or content of the Journal are made by the Editor-in-Chief