***Includes Photos***
In celebration of engineering journalism, I sent requests for information to other engineering newspaper teams across the province. Papers at universities like Lakehead (The RACK), Ryerson (The Golden Ram), and Guelph (OSNAP), remain somewhat ubiquitous, but I received good responses from some of the bigger publications over at Queen’s, McMaster, and U of T. Some, like the Iron Warrior, are comprehensive newspapers, while others are strictly humour. Regardless, we all have one thing in common: a history of controversial or offensive content and threats of being shut down. Hopefully we’ve evolved a bit since then and on a brighter note, we’re all volunteer-run and currently going strong. Read on to see what your fellow engineering students can pick up on their campuses. Issues from these papers are also just a simple Google search away.
| School | Name | Est | Approx Staff | Publications | Typical issue contains… | Random Facts |
| Waterloo | The Iron Warrior | 1980 | 20 | 2000 copies biweekly | Real engineering and campus news, opinions, technology, entertainment, humour. | The IW was born after EngiNews was shut down for offensive content in the 80’s. Thanks to co-op, the IW is the only engineering newspaper published year-round. |
| Queen’s | Golden Words | 1967 | Varies; volunteers from all faculties | 9000 copies weekly | Humour from all faculties, based on whatever’s going on that week. | Tagline: Canada’s Other National Newspaper GW holds a yearly science fair; past projects include a robot alcohol dispenser, a bike powered blender, and a stoplight funnel. This year is GW’s 45thanniversary |
| McMaster | Plumbline | 1958 | 10, including 2 editors | Monthly | Eng-itorials, Shines and Moons of the month, opinions, entertainment, Future News, Academic Advice | Plumbline was originally printed on 8 ½” x11” switching to newsprint in 1971. Plumbline was shut down in 2005-2006 for offensive sexist content. Despite this, Plumbline has its first female editor in over 10 years. |
| University of Toronto | Toike Oike | 1911 | 10 | 5000 copies monthly | Engineering and other crude humour that’s certainly not afraid of having politically incorrect opinions. Did I mention crude? | Toike Oike celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Toike was sued for offensive content in the 80’s. Issues from 2007 and October 2010 were pulled from stands for offensive content. |
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