What have they been doing at the Brunswickan Anyway?

What Has The Brunswickan Been up to?

By Joel Rumson

The Brunswickan Publishing Incorporated (BPI), a proud founding member of the Canadian University Press (CUP), holds the prestigious title as Canada’s Oldest Student Publication. 

Since its establishment in 1867, The Brunswickan has strived to be a continued presence on campus, operating at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Fredericton for over 150 years as the independent and fearless voice of students. With a rich legacy rooted in integrity, honesty, and comic-realism, we strive to deliver eight monthly print editions and weekly online stories (from September to April), ensuring students are informed, inspired, and heard.

In doing so, The Brunswickan has been challenged from every imaginable angle – as a Student-run publication should be.

As a simple recap of the past 20 years: 

In 2007, our Business Manager went AWOL and took us to court. Following that, 2015 brought financial challenges and led to abandonment of our weekly print editions, which later turned monthly. In 2017, the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) fired the paper’s distribution manager – leaving no mode of distribution for our magazines. Later that same EIC quit, leaving Emma McPhee (The Brunwickan’s Grandmother) to return to the scene. 

That would be one hell of a hair-raiser for a reporter…

In 2019 the S.U.B reallocated Room 33 (the old EIC office) away from The Brunswickan’s space, leaving the EIC without an office. Consequently, the Advertising Manager position was dissolved into the Business Manager, and the Advertising Office (Room 34) became the EIC’s office. 

At that time, renovations were promised as a settlement, which would connect the — at that time —  the ‘Advertising Office’ into the main Brunswickan space (Room 35). 

In 2023, the S.U.B also reallocated Room 38, and due to its state — which was used for storage at that time — threatened the Dark Room could be next…   

September 2024 started with a bang, with the previous Business Manager, again, going AWOL. But, this time, ghosting The Brunswickan rather than taking us to court, leaving without a trace. Leaving a few records of employment (ROIs) for us to file…

What. A. Learning. Experience. 

Today, in 2025, many things have changed.

It all started this summer. After revising every job description, contract, and transition document for each position, the 2024 – 2025 team was hired by yours truly, Joel Rumson. Little did the team know, there was much to be done. First of all, I needed to find a printer… and not some HP stinker. That’s when I reached out to Dirk Lenentine, manager of UNB Print Services since 2000 who now prints our editions at a cheaper, quicker, and more convenient rate than our previous printers. 

Moreover, while everyone was signing their contracts and enjoying the sun in August, I was sweating away to clean the overflowing Dark Room, a relic mothballed and relegated to a glorified storage room since the rise of the digital age. All to say, mass change swept the Dark Room and left it looking just as good as the day it was installed… almost! Now, we have Dark Room with (seemingly) safe ventilation, working enlargers, a sink that pours and drains water, and a fancy red light which was previously burnt out.

After the Dark Room was saved from drowning, we moved onto The Brunswickan’s main office and Editor’s office. To start, The Brunswickan reached out to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB). Upon discussion, it was discovered The Brunswickan held a great amount of works which were not previously known of by the archives. Such as the inserts within the magazines, The Brunswickan used to put them in every weekly edition. In other words, The Provincial Archives quickly began taking inventory of things, and by the first round of collections had wheeled an entire cart of content to their building. Since then, all work in the EIC office has been archived. January 2025 continued on these efforts. 

While the revitalization underwent, and employee drives were being organized respectively, our valiant Business Manager, Alicia Lowe, developed a working relationship with an innovative payroll system to ensure safe, reliable, and legally disturbed payroll. No more unfilled ROIs. 

Then came the employee Google Drives, which – containing over 100GB of data across the organization – needed massive overhaul. Within each held cherished photos, videos, articles, interviews, and pretty much everything you can imagine a Student publication to have on UNBF. Photos of Paul Mazerolle from when he was a baby, the hidden secret to graduating on-time as an undergraduate student, videos of the 203 centre opening in 2018, columns on student issues, pictures of The Brunswickan office from 2010, and even previous magazines dating back 10 years. Well maybe not the first one. 

To develop the office, we needed new desks, chairs, computers, and pretty much everything else you can imagine, even white board markers. As EIC, I posted on Facebook seeking donations, as, to revise the space on our budget would be literally impossible. 

We received new office chairs, office supplies, furniture, desks, a beautiful rug, and many other items which transformed the space into a bright, and new space. I personally feel this was the first instance of care I have witnessed The Brunswickan receive from the community of Fredericton. Thank you. 

Having a solid foundation to build upon, with a clean space, functioning dark room, organized drives, revised administrative documents and processes, The Brunswickan moved on to develop our biggest asset – our website (theBruns.ca). 

As Editor in Chief, I had a mission as well – to prepare for the first Annual General Meeting (AGM) in 3 years. 

Led by Bradley Garlie, News Editor and online Brunswickan saviour, our website was completely redesigned. Removing the pop-ups, ads, viruses, and all the other junk that reduces the quality of user experience. Now, we have a fantastically beautiful platform to not just post content on, but build upon as The Brunswickan’s online hub. 

Our online presence was further revitalized through the creation of a new Instagram account (@TheBrunswickan_Online) since our previous account (@TheBrunswickan) was restricted due to Bill C-18, This has allowed us to share the progress of stories, updates, news, and most importantly served as a highway bringing students to our updated website! 

On the topic of technology, The Brunswickan made strides this year acquiring new assets for our offices. Personally working for the newspaper since 2021, I have never seen a new computer enter the office in my life… So, I reached out to Dave Ince, with ITS at UNB. He hooked us up with three sexy new workstations, replacing our previous which were dated 2010. Welcome to the future, Dave says! 

With job descriptions, contracts, and transition documents thoroughly revised, the 2024 – 2025 team was hired, the Dark Room, long used as a storage space, cleared of decades-old materials, business operations streamlined with introduction of  secure and compliant payroll system, over 100GB of employee Google Drive data, reorganized and preserved, office renovations and collaborations to archive historical materials, as well as sourcing community donations to furnish and refresh the space. 

These efforts laid a lot for mention, but paid off. Resulting in a freshly elected slate of new board members and marked the first revision of The Brunswickan’s Bylaws since 2015.  

January, 2025

Joel Rumson