Editorial

TRENT CONTENTS  Editorial Association President's Message Making Waves: John Jennings and the Canadian Canoe Museum Physics 100: Swinging from the rafters Nancy Sherouse Tribute Reunion Weekend Accommodation Directory Wilson's Wit and Wisdom: Alumni Coaches The Formal and Informal Classroom or, What Really Happens at Trent Unique Contribution to Archaeology Earns Spirit of Trent Award Campus Alumni Profile - Deborah Berrill Beyond Our Walls Report In Memoriam Sunshine Sketches

Liz Fleming '76 In April, I had the opportunityto attend a conference of university magazine editors from post secondary and secondary schools across North America. Big and small, universities, colleges and prep schools of every description sent their editors to discuss the business of creating magazines and communicating with a very specialized audience - well-educated readers with a vested interest... people like you. I learned a great deal over the course of the three days that I spent rubbing shoulders with my colleagues at that conference, and came back with a bag full of ideas for stories for future editions of "TrenT". I also came back with a strong sense of gratitude for the editorial freedom we've been given by the Trent administration over the nearly ten years that I've been involved with this magazine. It had never occured to me that what we have enjoyed is unusual. While at the conference, I spoke with editors who have the content of their magazines dictated to them by development offices - lots of "grip and grin" shots of big donors, and very little alumni news, please. Others told stories of being instructed to cut out their class notes (our Sunshine Sketches) altogether to make room for research and development pieces designed to woo corporate supporters. Still other editors explained that they were prevented from dealing with a wide variety of issues considered too controversial by the administration - issues such as gay rights on campus and student/ faculty protests. A great many admitted to being required to submit every word of every issue to be reviewed and - in some cases - revised by the administration. While I certainly understand the need for a university magazine's message to be in harmony with the goals and the character of the institution, such limitations as I heard described would soon squeeze the life out of "TrenT". When I compare the autonomy we've enjoyed, I am overwhelmed by the faith the Trent administration has placed in the volunteers who produce our magazine - the University's only such publication. Certainly, our focus is most often on the positive and we are happiest when we are celebrating the successes of Trent's faculty, staff, students and alumni, but when hard issues have to be discussed - such as our most recent strike - we have always been given free reign. It was our decision as an editorial board, to allow all sides to voice their opinions in that strike-focused issue, and we hope that proved to be a fair means of providing our readers with a balanced picture of what was going on. (On occasion, we have to save stories regarding changing or developing situations until final decisions have been made, but this is simply a function of the fact that we publish just three times per year and try to avoid appearing dated.) Trent has had its troubles, like any university, and it will, no doubt, continue to have growing pains as we face the demands of a new millennium. Whatever lies ahead, I hope that we will always have the editorial freedom to discuss the issues as they arise with a spirit of honesty and openness.

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