The Xaverian Weekly Newspaper Constitution

Created by Bella Tascona and Bastien MacLean

Amended October 4, 2026

Article 1: Name

1.1  The official name of the St Francis Xavier University student newspaper is The Xaverian Weekly, (referred to throughout this document as The Weekly).

1.2  The Xaverian Newspaper operates as a Student Newspaper, not as an entity ratified as a Society under the StFX Student Union’s policies.

Article 2: Declaration of Principles

2.1 The Weekly will collect, write, edit and publish news from the university campus, but not to the exclusion of non-campus and non-university news of interest and importance to the campus community.

2.2 In all its reporting The Weekly will act fairly and responsibly as an alternative to commercial media.

2.3 The Weekly will provide an open forum for free expression of ideas and opinion in order to stimulate meaningful debate, while respecting the rights of individuals.

2.4 The Weekly will abide by the Canadian University Press (CUP) Code of Ethics. (which can be found at https://dialognews.ca/canadian-university-press-code-ethics/)

2.5 The Weekly will abide by St. Francis Xavier University’s Standards of Conduct Human Resources Policies. (which can be found at https://www.stfx.ca/university-policies-procedures/standards-conduct-policy)

Article 3: Publishing Advisory Board

3.1 Purpose

The Weekly will be governed by a Publishing Advisory Board (also referred as PAB). The purpose of the Board is to ensure that the provisions of The Weekly’s constitution are respected, and to ensure the proper financial management of The Weekly. The Board may review the editorial content of the Weekly prior to or after publication but only when requested by the Co-Editors, or when The Weekly is charged with conduct or publishing content that is illegal, violates the CUP Code of Ethics, or violates one of more articles of The Weekly’s Constitution.

3.2 Composition

The Board will have seven voting members and one nonvoting member as specified below:

A)The Co-Editors in Chief (2)

B) The U VP External and Communications

C) One staff member of The Weekly (decided at random at a staff meeting, no later than Oct 1st of the publishing year).

D) One student member at large, advertised on the Weekly social media pages, chosen by the Co-Editors.

E) One StFX Faculty member, chosen by the Co-Editors.

F) One member of the campus community, who is not a member of the Weekly, chosen by the Co-Editors.

3.3 Meetings of the Board

The PAB will meet once a semester, unless specifically called together by the Editors-in-Chief of the Newspaper. Circumstances that would require the EICs to call a meeting include but are not limited to controversial articles, actions that go against the mission of the Newspaper, and risk-mitigation.

Article 4 Executive Board

4.1 Purpose: The purpose of the Executive Board is to execute the day-to-day operations of the Weekly. The Executive Board will meet no less than once a month per publishing year.

4.2 Composition

A) Co-Editors in Chief (2)

B) Arts & Culture Editor

C) Sports & Health Editor

D) Features and Opinions Editor

E) News Editor

F) Social Media Manager

E) Business Manager

Article 5: Requirements to Amend or Rescind

5.1 The Xaverian Weekly’s Constitution shall be the binding constitutional authority of The Weekly and may be amended only through a majority vote of the Publishing Advisory Board.

Article 6: Annual General Meeting

6.1 The Annual General Meeting of the Newspaper shall be held no later than October 30th of each year.

6.2 The Annual General Meeting will occur as soon as possible after the completion of the hiring period of each year.

Article 7: Hiring and Management of the Newspaper

7.1 The Editors-in-Chief have the sole authority to hire and discipline Newspaper staff.

7.2 Any decision about the termination of Newspaper staff must occur through a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the Executive Board.

7.3 The hiring of the incoming Editors-in-Chief is the responsibility of the Executive Board and is ratified by the PAB.

7.4 The hiring of incoming Editors-in-Chief must be completed by March 30th of each year.

7.5 The Editors-in-Chief will manage the performance of the Newspaper’s staff and set outcomes as required.