Canadian University Press

Canadian University Press
Canadian University Press logo
Abbreviation	CUP
Formation	1938
Type	Organizations based in Canada
Legal status	active
Purpose/focus	advocate and public voice, educator and network
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Region served	Canada
Membership	80 student newspapers at post-secondary schools in Canada
Official languages	English, French
Affiliations	National Union of Students, National Student Press Week
Website	http://www.cup.ca www.cup.ca

Canadian University Press is a non-profit co-operative and newswire service owned by almost 90 student newspapers at post-secondary schools in Canada. Founded in 1938, CUP is the oldest student newswire service in the world and the oldest national student organization in North America. Many successful Canadian journalists got their starts in CUP and its member papers. CUP began as a syndication services that facilitated transnational story-sharing. This newswire continued as a private function until 2010 when it was turned into a competitive source for campus news in the form of an online public wire at cupwire.ca.

CUP's head office is in Toronto. Prior to April 1995, the head office was located in Ottawa. In Ottawa, CUP ran a printing company, called Common Printing Group, which was owned jointly with the National Union of Students, which was located in the same building as CUP for several years.

A national conference, which doubles as an annual general meeting, is held once a year in a different city. Each member paper exercises one vote at conferences. The president and national bureau chief are elected at the national conference, or NASH, while the regional CUPboard members are either elected via online referendum, or at regional conferences held in the spring. Each region has an annual event subsidy which can be used to host events within the region, or jointly with other regions. This usually takes the form of regional conferences held in the spring and in the fall. January 2011 will mark CUP's first fully bilingual national conference, in Montreal, hosted in part by the McGill Daily and Le Delit.

The current structure for CUP, of a permanent newswire offered to Canadian University newspapers including the full-time president, was established at CUP 22 in Quebec City in 1959. Prior to this date the service was looser and more oriented towards an exchange of clippings between the papers. One of the delegates at CUP 22 was future Canadian Prime Minister, Joe Clark, representing the University of Alberta paper, The Gateway.

CUP is divided into six regions: WRCUP (Western, including British Columbia and Yukon), PNCUP (Prairies and Northern, including Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Saskatchewan), ORCUP (Ontario), CUPbeq (Quebec), ARCUP (Atlantic, including New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), and PUC (Presse Universitaire Canadienne, including all French language members regardless of geography). Other acronyms for regions include CUPberta (Alberta), and CCUP (Central CUP, Saskatchewan and Manitoba). It also has four special issues caucuses to promote diversity, address the under-representation of marginalized groups and encourage discussion of social issues: Colour Caucus; Disabilities Caucus; Queer, Trans and Allies Caucus; and Women's Caucus.

Member papers contribute articles to the CUP wire, which also runs stories authored by CUP staff. There are news, features, opinions, arts, sports, and graphics wires. After stories are edited by the national bureau chief, they are made available on the wire for publication in CUP member papers.

CUP wholly owns a multi-market ad placement agency, Canadian University Press Media Services Limited, which operates as Campus Plus, offering advertisers one-stop access to student newspapers. Until 2007, CUP was the sole member of the John H. McDonald Journalism Foundation, a charity named after CUP's first president. Though the charity has been folded, it lives on through the yearly John H. McDonald Student Journalism Awards.

In 2005, CUP declared the last full week of every January, Sunday to Saturday, would be observed as National Student Press Week to celebrate the achievements, diversity and freedom of the student press.

CUP National Bureau Chiefs and other National Office staff

Now and in recent years, the national bureau chief has also served as CUP's vice-president. In some previous years, the national executive was made up of three or four staff and also included a national features editor (who also held the title of vice-president) or national affairs writer. These staffers held their positions at the conference listed and were elected at the previous conference. In CUP's early days, the titles of president and secretary were awarded at a conference to a newspaper, which would then fill those roles from among staff members.

CUP Board of Directors

Until the early 2000s CUP was administrated and controlled between National Conferences by only the President and National Bureau Chief. While the staff was required to execute the will of members are agreed upon at plenary, many major decisions were could be made by the national office on its own. After the Agent Magazine problems, a movement spearheaded by staffers at the Ontarion drafted and approved motion calling for the creation of a CUP Board of Directors. Approved at Nash 63, the Board guarantees every region at least one Director. Any region with twenty or more member papers receives an additional director. All Directors are elected at the Plenary of their spring regional conference.

At Nash 69 in Vancouver CUP membership voted to add to position of a Continuity Representative to the Board of Directors as a voting member. Subsequently, at Nash 70 in Ottawa this position was made into an ex-offico member of the Board of Directors. A staff member (President/NBC/Regional Director) from the previous year fills the position. It was created as an attempt to stabilize CUP's leadership since it goes through an almost yearly changeover.

National Conferences

Every year since its inception, CUP has held a national conference. The conference moves around the country and serves as the annual general meeting of the organization. It also features a number of training seminars and high-profile keynote speakers. The New Year's Eve parties were sometimes raucous events, as the new year was rung in five times to mark each of the nation's time zones. The extinguishing of a motel fire put a damper on the party at North Bay, Ontario, on the last day of 1983.

See also

• Student newspaper
• News agency
• List of student newspapers in Canada
• Agents of social change
• National Student Press Week

External links

• Canadian University Press
• Campus Plus (Canadian University Press Media Services Limited)
• John H. McDonald Journalism Foundation