Founded 1932 | Editor Frédérique Mazerolle | |
Headquarters 109 Osgoode StreetOttawa, OntarioK1N 6S1 | ||
La Rotonde is the official French-language student newspaper at the University of Ottawa. It is the oldest French-language student paper outside of Quebec.
Contents
The newspaper publishes weekly throughout the fall and winter sessions on regular topics including news, arts and culture, sports, and travel. Previously owned by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, La Rotonde achieved an independent status on May 1, 2008. A not-for-profit corporation, Les Publications La Rotonde Inc., has been created to manage the newspaper. Its directors are elected by University of Ottawa students during an annual general meeting.
While The Fulcrum is the official English-language student newspaper, the two publications are not repetitions of each other and offer unique, and sometimes conflicting, content and opinions.
History
La Rotonde was founded in 1932 by the Société de Débats Français.
In the 50s, the paper became increasingly autonomous and challenging of the political order, leading to several conflicts with the university administration. In 1956, La Rotonde was named the most censored newspaper in Canada by the Canadian University Press. In 1958, 3 editors were expelled for writing an article that the administration disliked. Later that year, the paper was shut down, not resuming operations until 1959.
In 1965, student newspaper ownership was transferred to the SFUO. 4 years later, the union merged La Rotonde and the Fulcrum to create a bilingual paper called Id. Id was unsuccessful however, and La Rotonde began publishing again in 1970.
In 1986, the paper was almost shut down after serious financial difficulties.
In 2013, 80% of the copies of La Rotonde's post-election issue were stolen.
Editorial Positions
La Rotonde endorsed the creation of General Assemblies.