Why Obiter is Here After All these Years
MODERATELY IMMATURE DELIGHT – that’s the essence of Obiter. I sat down the other day to chat with a good friend (who also edits the paper). We spoke about anything except school, and we happened on that apt description of Obiter’s ethos. It came up when I was trying to describe why, with everything else we do, we each chose to do this.
Obiter otherwise defies explanation. How is it that, every year, so many Osgoode students decide to devote so much time to producing print media? And why, after all these years, has Osgoode’s paper persisted, when so many others across Canada have not?
This year, my welcome message describes Obiter’s culture, and explains why it leads to perennial interest in our publication. You might ask why it is surprising that a campus has a newspaper. The first surprise is the structure. Unlike the Legal & Literary Society (L&L) or the Law Journal, Obiter’s board is not elected; we are not separately incorporated; and our editors do not earn academic credit. There is no procedural inertia keeping the paper afloat.
Nor is there a functional necessity for Obiter. No other group at Osgoode relies on us for their existence. By comparison, L&L has a necessary and facilitative role, as the purse-strings of all other Osgoode student clubs (except Obiter).
This newspaper enjoys near-total independence – financially, institutionally, and editorially – and that makes us frail. If Obiter went under, its absence would only be noticed by those who went to look for a fresh issue on the shelves.
So the paper persists organically. The other day, my friend and I considered why, and here is our answer. Obiter is not just a newspaper; it is also a community. Students who edit the paper take on the joint project of keeping that community going at Osgoode. Every year, Obiter persists and prints because students see value in its community.
Last year, during my first term as Editor-in-Chief, I learned that the ethos of Obiter’s community has remained largely unchanged for decades. In our interviews with alumni editors, we asked what they remembered most about the paper. Consistently, they mentioned Obiter’s distinctive sense of humour and its social environment. That often provided our jumping-off point in an interview – a source of common ground.
Obiter’s governance contributes to that continuity of purpose. I think Obiter’s community would be diminished by the election of editors. In conversations with Osgoode administrators last year, they confirmed that Obiter has always had a “passing of the torch” rather than a vote. To anyone wanting to run this paper, note that Obiter’s selection process is a keenness contest, not a popularity contest. But you might ask: keenness for what?
Moderately immature delight: approaching this paper with creativity and a youthful spirit. When comparing the subject matter of Obiter against that of other Osgoode clubs, Obiter is decidedly unserious. Our content focuses on Osgoode student life, rather than your future work life.
Obiter provides a platform for students to share stories about their passions & personal lives. And sometimes, we print news. That was the message I shared last year in my introductory editorial.
You can join a club to put it on your resume, but Obiter is different. Sure, our editors build transferable skills. In a year, you may prepare financial statements; organize an event; edit for content and clarity; manage a special feature; or recruit writers. Those alone are not why students become editors. There have been years where no law firm that advertised in Obiter chose to interview any student who edited Obiter. If the purpose of joining the newspaper was merely to get a job through formal recruitment, those years would be, in some sense, failures.
Instead, Obiter is a welcome break from the mechanical, factory-like feel of law school. In between stepping on the conveyor belt in 1L, and later stepping out into the work world, our editors make time for creativity and whimsy. Obiter emphasizes the human element of going to law school.
Our team will help you find a way to share your passion in the pages of North America’s oldest law school newspaper. We will chat with you in our office and laugh about the absurdities of law student life. More than anything, we want to help you stamp out the notion that all things ‘law’ are supposed to be stiff and serious.
You are here to become a more well-rounded person. For over 90 years, Obiter’s editors have pursued that goal, and carried on a community that finds happiness in humour. We would like to meet you, and we hope you will join us – as a student, sponsor, or alumni writer.