Campus papers exist in this weird nebulous space surrounding large official newspapers. Those papers, like the Globe, are the nucleus of the newspaper organism. They are refined and serious. They set the pace for the newspaper industry as a whole that other newspapers, including smaller dailies and community weeklies, generally try to emulate.

Student papers orbit these Big Newspapers too. Most of the time, they try to copy this model directly. For example, the Queen’s Journal practically rejects its student identity, favouring an official tone and no jokiness, supposedly in fear of seeming disingenuous or amateurish. And it shows — they look quite official and make no mention of their student operation on their website.

Other papers reject the standards set by Big Newspapers. They try to experiment in print and online and try to think outside the box. This newspaper community, which exists largely in the US, does so in fear of a dying newspaper industry — one they’re desperately trying to enter after gradutating.

In Canada, we’re a little more reserved. Most newspapers barely have a web presence, never mind one they truly own and operate. The number of newspapers that emulate the Big Newspaper model greatly outweighs the irreverent types.

The Gazette’s history is almost entirely irreverent. The serious-to-humour ratio ebbs and flows each year and you could probably track it like a sign wave. But generally, it’s a newspaper that offends and pushes buttons simply because they can and often because only they can. That’s one way the Gazette is unlike papers like the Journal. It looks at its studentness not as a weakness but as a mission statement.

Since the Spoof Issue was released four years ago, a culture of scrutiny surrounded the paper. Things changed. Editors became afraid of offending people or pushing anyones buttons. For good reason. The paper was nearly shut down, the University stepped in and now approves the paper’s student fees separately, and a host of good editors left the paper. It lingers in the minds of the Gazette elders like a war wound, throbbing more powerfully in certain weather. When storms start brewing, editors feel those egg shells cracking beneath their feet.

When I walked into my job this year, I did so on the heels of this column. It took a stance against the sanitation that came from the scrutiny culture. It pleaded with students to speak up if the letter-writers and scrutinizers were doing more harm than good, despite their intentions. And students wrote back. In droves. We printed two pages of letters in support.

It built a resolve inside me that the Gazette needed to return to its irreverent roots. But what does this mean? Even in my column, people responded negatively, saying I was advocating “rape jokes.” Good friends like the campus chaplain expressed concern about what kind of paper I was envisioning and whether the Gazette was capable of being irreverent without being offensive.

I think irreverence in the Gazette means something simple. It means standing on the side of students. It means representing the student voice. And alternatively, it means not standing on the side of the University of the USC. It means not representing the University voice or the USC voice. It means, in part, being an independent voice, insomuch as a voice defined by its opposition to authority is independent.

When students read the Gazette, it should scream its studentness from the headlines, cutlines and copy. The jokes can be high brow or juvenile, its seriousness can fluctuate depending on the article, its topics can stray from Big Newspapers into things they wouldn’t dare touch.

A difference this year compared to previous years might be an understanding that irreverence has to come with “permission” — a feeling of balance between the serious and irreverent sides. Not all students will tolerate irreverence, but when it’s balanced with quality journalism there is more leeway to have some fun. The same can be said for Arts & Life, a new section including more human interest and articles about cooking and reading. To some, this is seen as fluff. Some of it inevitably will be. But while these articles will interest the casual reader, strong features and investigative pieces in this and other sections helps satisfy the Whole Reader.

Before writing the column, three students complained about a photo we published showing students doing a keg stand on St. Patrick’s Day. I think what I wrote in response to that photo sums up my point entirely.

But for the rest of campus — the majority, it seems — this photo is not only reflective of their experience that day, but of student experiences generally. Not just drinking, but all kinds of experiences that are often unfavourable, inappropriate and taboo. These are all a part of a diverse student body. They define the ups and downs of undergraduate life. At least they used to.

Student life does not exist according to the official accounts. The USC and the University paint one picture of student life. Often they collude to do so. Of all the official bodies on campus, the Gazette is quite literally the only one that can paint a different account of student life. In this context, it has an obligation to. And understanding its mission statement, it’s extremely proud to do so.