The Gateway (student magazine)

For the shopping complex in Salt Lake City, Utah, see Gateway District.

The Gateway is the student newspaper at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The newspaper was founded in North Garneau at the home of Liddy Lloyd on October 26, 1910. A group of students gathered to discuss the creation of a student newspaper. They came up with the name 'Gateway' and selected A.E. Ottewell as its first editor-in-chief. According to an editorial written in 1917, the name Gateway was meant to be "suggestive of the position of the U of A at the portal of the great North country, rich in potentialities and future greatness."

From its first published issue on November 21, 1910 until 2002, the Gateway was run as a department of the University of Alberta Students' Union. In 2002 the paper ran a successful referendum campaign for its autonomy and became an independent entity run by the Gateway Student Journalism Society (GSJS).

While most of the day-to-day operations did not change with autonomy, a board of directors (BOD) took over the major decision-making powers for the paper from a Students' Union committee and the Vice-President (Student Life).

The paper is funded by a combination of advertising revenue and a student levy approved at the time of the autonomy campaign. The Gateway is one of the oldest and largest student newspapers in Canada and features sections devoted to news, opinion, sports, arts and entertainment, comics and features.

The Gateway is a founding member of Canadian University Press and played host to CUP's national conference in January 2005.

After many different formats and publishing schedules over the years — including a very brief attempt as a daily — the Gateway is published most Tuesdays and Thursdays during the fall and winter terms and has a circulation of 12,000. During the Spring and Summer sessions the Gateway publishes a reduced schedule with a reduced circulation.

Each December, the Getaway is published (notice the different spelling), which features satirical articles and non sequiters. The Getaway is a no-holds-barred publication, each issue containing considerable profanity and sexual content. Additionally, a joke issue spoofing a different newspaper or magazine is run every year at the end of the winter term.

The Gateway launched a new website, The Gateway Online, on 27 February, 2007.

Gateway Student Journalism Society

The Gateway Student Journalism Society is the body that oversees the budget and overall operation of the Gateway. Its board of directors consists of nine voting members (the "Editor-in-Chief" of the newspaper, an editors' representative, two volunteer representatives, a representative of Students' Council, the SU Vice-President (Operations and Finance), a "continuity" representative and two students-at-large) as well as the Business Manager who is ex-offico and a non-voting member. A Secretary, Treasurer and Chair of the BOD are selected from the voting members.

Gateway Alumni Association

In early 2004, Gateway alumnus Steve Lillebuen approached the University of Alberta to officially recognize a Gateway Alumni Association (GAA). In March of 2004 the GAA became an official chapter of the University of Alberta Alumni Association. Since then, the GAA has tracked down 800 lost alumni, hosted the Gateway’s 95th anniversary dinner (which, oddly enough, had 95 guests), and started working towards creating an online digital archive of the newspaper in preparation for the Gateway’s centennial in 2010.

All former paid staff of the newspaper are members of the Association. Any volunteer who contributed five or more submissions—writing, photographs, graphics, comics, administrative or editorial assistance and design—that appeared in the Gateway is also a member. It is estimated that over 3000 people have volunteered at one point in the Gateway's publishing history.

Notable alumni

• Todd Babiak, Edmonton Journal columnist and Giller Prize-nominated author
• William Beard, film Professor and author
• Joe Clark, former Prime Minister of Canada
• Cam Cole, National Post sports columnist
• Fish Griwkowsky, Space Cat cartoonist and music/political critic
• Matthew Halton, the late CBC Radio WWII reporter, the "Voice of Canada"
• Lou Hyndman, former University of Alberta Chancellor
• Don Iveson, Edmonton City Councillor for Ward 5
• Jason Kapalka, Co-founder of PopCap Games and creator of Bejeweled
• Arthur Kroeger, former Deputy Minister
• Peter Lougheed, former Alberta Premier
• Jaro Malanowski, Filmmaker, Founder of Avatar Productions, Programming Chair, Global Visions Film Festival
• Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
• Stephen Notley, creator of Bob the Angry Flower
• Mark Spector, National Post sports columnist

External links

• The Gateway Online -- New site launched at the end of February 2007.
• The Gateway -- Old site and archives
• The Gateway Student Journalism Society
• The Gateway Alumni Association