The Lance student newspaper has re-launched after several years of dormancy (LEDDY LIBRARY ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS/University of Windsor)
By Kate Hargreaves
When she applied for a job editing a student newspaper, Molly Vaillancourt had never heard of The Lance.
“I’ve always wanted to be a writer,” she says. “Then the UWSA put out a posting saying they were hiring a lead editor for a paper."
Vaillancourt, a bachelor of education student with a BA in linguistics, history and culture, had limited journalistic experience but was passionate about writing.
What she didn’t realize until she landed the job was that the paper she would be editing had not existed – at least in print – for over a decade.
“That’s when I started to do my own investigating because I wanted to know what this paper was,” she says.
“I found out that it’s so much more than just a newspaper.”
Vaillancourt has been hired as part of a five-student team to resurrect The Lance, the University of Windsor student newspaper, which suspended print operations in 2016 after a publishing history dating back to 1924.
Then Assumption College’s monthly paper, The Purple and White, The Lance took on its current name in 1959, publishing under that name until its online edition went dormant in 2019.
In honour of the paper’s relaunch at thelance.ca, Vaillancourt sought out the stories of former staff and contributors over the years.
She turned to social media, posting on a Windsor-Essex Facebook group about the resurrection of the paper and received a strong response.
“I’ve received over 100 comments and 47 messages,” she says. “I’ve heard some wild stories, and it’s a part of the fun. It’s part of the University culture. So many people contributed to this beautiful piece of student history.”
Of those past contributors, more than a few have gone on to careers in media and journalism with The Lance as their launching point.
Celebrated CBC journalist Anna Maria Tremonti got her start at The Lance in the 1970s, as did CBC Windsor radio and video producer Michael Evans, who was The Lance’s video producer from 2005 to 2007.
Anna Maria Tremonti wrote for The Lance in the 1970s (LEDDY LIBRARY ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS/University of Windsor)
One of those who reached out to Vaillancourt was UWindsor staff member Kevin Johnson, who was editor-in-chief from 1987 to 1989 and production manager from 1990 to 1993.
“The Lance was truly one of the formative experiences of my life, giving me skills in writing, editing, layout and design that informed every job I have held since,” says Johnson.
“Plus, it introduced me to a wonderful cast of talented characters, many of whom I continue to cherish as friends. It is my fondest hope that its resurrection will provide similar opportunities for new generations of University of Windsor students.”
Kevin Johnson (second from left) started his career in communications at The Lance in the late 1980s (LEDDY LIBRARY ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS/University of Windsor)
Travis Fauteux, acting manager of digital media, marketing and production in UWindsor’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications, is also a Lance alum, having served as news editor for the paper in some of its final years.
“When I look back at my time as news editor at The Lance, it was my first step into my professional career in marketing and communications,” says Fauteux.
“What has always stayed with me is the paper’s impact on campus life – its ability to connect students and spark conversation. Seeing The Lance revived is exciting because an engaged and informed student community depends on voices like these.”
Travis Fauteux was amongst the last staff members to work on The Lance prior to it going out of print in the mid-2010s (LEDDY LIBRARY ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS/University of Windsor)
In addition to chatting with former staff, Vaillancourt also hit the archives at Leddy Library and delved into old print copies of The Lance.
“I love the old Lance editions with the Poet’s Corner,” she says. “Years later, someone like me is reading an edition from 1972, and a poem still resonates with me.”
While the current version is online-only for the time being, Vaillancourt says she hopes to secure funding to move back into print in the future.
“There’s just something about physical media,” she says.
In the interim, she and co-lead Menura de Silva, along with three part-time student journalists, are focused on getting the word out that The Lance is back.
This includes getting a volunteer team of writers together and soliciting articles from across the student body.
“It’s such a great feeling to say that you’re published and other people are reading it,” Vaillancourt says. “It’s a way for students to put themselves out there and be brave.”
She sees The Lance as both a learning opportunity for student writers as well as a place for student voices to be heard, whether in news writing, fiction or poetry.
While there have been some social media hiccups in these early days, which Lance staff in its more analog eras would not have encountered, Vaillancourt is confident in the team’s ability to get the paper back up and running with new material online every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
As for the student response to the re-vamped Lance thus far, Vaillancourt says reception has been positive.
“Students are saying that this is what we’ve been missing,” she says. “A place for their voices.”
To read The Lance or contact the editorial team with a submission, visit thelance.ca or email thelance@uwindsor.ca.