According to Paula Todd, co-anchor for TVOntario's weeknight current affairs program "Studio Two", student papers today are covering news in much the same way they did during her days at excalibur in the mid-'80s. Todd (BA'82, LLB'88) says the globalization trend has also seemed to have taken hold in the 17 years since she was editor. "Excalibur's world seems bigger - filled with more people and more places. It's more professional looking [than it used to be], sophisticated and connected with the rest of the Canadian student body and that's a service,"she says.

The zeitgeist at excalibur when John Montesano was managing editor in the early '90s was personal politics. The former co-owner of Eyetalian magazine says politics permeated the campus, noting advocacy was a big part of excal culture. " 'Identity politics' was at its height and that carried over into the kinds of stories the paper did," he says.

If some stories in the student press do come up repeatedly from decade to decade that's the nature of the beast, says Tariq Hassan-Gordon, Canadian University Press(CUP) president. With a transient reader and volunteer base, issues like parking, tuition fees, the corporatization of higher ed and the quality of education are constant news, he says. "Ever since the first corporate donation to a university, there's been a news story there."

Since the early '90s editors have often concentrated on culture-based articles with issues concerning women, queers, different ethnicities and people with disabilities.

When Todd worked at excalibur she says staff usually followed stories out of a sense of duty. At the time she was editor, student safety motivated the writers to pursue the story of a series of sexual assaults on campus. "We thought, Who else was going to make sure on a daily basis that enough was being done to protect students? Who else was going to make sure that the police and the administration were doing all they could?"

Most student journalists fall into the profession much as they stumble into the student news offices. Oakland Ross (BA'74) is a case in point. A former Globe and Mail writer, Ross first came to York hoping to become a university professor. He never dreamt of being a foreign correspondent, he says. He edited excalibur during the time when the "change-the-world" mentality of the '60s and early '70s was on the wane. Gradually, however, Ross says he realized he didn't want to spend the rest of his life on a university campus, and so the idea of a journalism career became more appealing. "I thought, What can I do with writing and make money? Journalism seemed the obvious answer."