The Torch Constitution

 

I. Philosophy and purpose

A. The purpose of The Torch is to serve, inform and engage both the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and its surrounding community.

 

II. General policy

A. The constitution shall be reevaluated at the beginning of each academic year by the newly appointed Editor in Chief and Managing Editor and signed by all members of the editorial board for acceptance and approval.

B. The Torch shall be a student-operated newspaper, published weekly throughout UMass Dartmouth?s academic year.

B1. The Torch shall publish 13 issues per semester and 26 issues per academic year, with an optional orientation issue over the summer.*

B2. D. A summer orientation edition of The Torch shall be published at the discretion of the Editor in Chief.

C. The Torch shall publish a minimum of 3,000 copies per issue to be distributed to both on and off campus sites, including the Campus Center, all academic buildings, all residence halls, local businesses and all UMass Dartmouth satellite locations including, but not limited to, the Star Store, the New Bedford PCE, the Fairhaven PCE and the Fall River PCE.

 

* See attached production calendar in appendices.

III. Printing policy

A. The Torch publishes all issues with The Standard Times. They must be contacted prior to the start of the academic year to discuss pricing. An updated price list should be attached to the appendices of the constitution when being revised.

A1. Our Standard Times contact is Terry Garcia. Her phone number is 508-979-4350. The Editor in Chief should contact her every Friday before an issue is published in regards to page count and color specs.

A2. Every PDFed issue of The Torch should be dropped off at The Standard Times to the Pre-Press department the day of printing (traditionally on Wednesdays).

A3. In the event that an error is made after the PDF has been dropped off, the Editor in Chief should contact John Howorth at The Standard Times for emergency, last minute changes. His e-mail is prepress@s-t.com

A4. The Standard Times will deliver all printed papers on Thursdays at 9 a.m., after which time, the papers will be distributed.

 

IV. Advertising policy

A. The Advertising Manager, in conjunction with the Editor in Chief and the Managing Editor, should update advertising rates before the month of August to be added to the appendices of the constitution when being revised.

            A1. The Torch offers four separate types of rates: national, local, on             campus and student organization.

A1a. Student organizations are eligible to receive one free 1/8 page ad per semester.

A1b. Additional free advertisements for student organizations are available at the discretion of the Editor in Chief and Managing Editor.

B. All pre-designed advertisements must be received by Friday at noon the week prior to production. Any advertisements received after that time will not run, unless otherwise determined by the Editor in Chief.

B1. Any advertisements that need to be designed or edited must be submitted the Thursday prior to the publication date.

                        B1a. A $30 fee will be charged for all advertisement that require design or editing.

B1b. The designed or edited ads will be faxed or mailed for the customer to make any corrections and approve before newspaper publication.

C. All advertisement inserts require two weeks notice to Terry from the Standard Times prior to the run date. In order to run, advertisers must include the same number of inserts as the number of papers being printed.

C1. All inserts need to be physically dropped off at the printing facility in Fairhaven by noon on the day of printing. The facility is located on 245 Bridge Street.

C2. When dropped off at the printing facility, all inserts boxes must be labeled ?The Torch? and should include the date of the issue in which it is to be placed.

D. All invoices should be sent to advertisement clients the day after the newspaper is printed (typically a Friday). The invoices should include three tare sheets unless otherwise specified by the client. 

D1. Clients have thirty days to pay in full, otherwise they will be charged a late fee of 5%.

D2. Advertisers may pay up to 50% of their bill through services and wares at the discretion of the Managing Editor and the Advertising Manager.

D3. Ads are never to be resized or edited without prior consent of the advertising client. Failure to adhere to the advertiser?s instructions may result in nonpayment.

E. Any member of the editorial board or staff may receive commission for procured ad clients

            E1. Staff will receive 5% commission for securing returning ad clients

            E2. Staff will receive 10% commission for securing new ad clients

E3. Staff will receive 12% commission for securing new ad clients who have prepackaged ads (including proper formatting and no need for any design work)

 

V. Content policy

            *A. All content must be received by deadlines or will not run.

A1. All content must be submitted to appropriate section editors in final form via e-mail as an attached word document as well as pasted into the e-mail body.

A2. Extensions may only be approved by the appropriate section editor.

A3. Thursdays prior to the next issue, section editors should have working story ideas. Section editors should also have a concrete idea of what is going to be running in the upcoming issue.

 

* See attached calendar in appendices for all deadlines.

A4. Finalized story concepts for the following issue should be presented Mondays during Budgeting Meetings.

A4. Opinions, Sports, Arts and Entertainment, Photo and Illustration content is due to the appropriate section editors on Sundays by noon.

A5. News content is due to the appropriate section editor on Monday by noon.

A5. All section editors must have a run sheet completed on Mondays by noon.

A5a. Run sheets should include stories, word counts, photos, cutlines, illustrations and other special design requests or ideas.

B. All content received will be read and edited by the appropriate section editor before production and is not guaranteed for publication.

*B1. Once read by the section editor, the edited content should be posted on the server within 24 hours of receipt. The story edits sheet should then be brought to the office for each story edited.

B2. In addition, all content received will be read and edited by both the Copy Editor and the Editor in Chief prior to or during production before being sent to print.

B2a. The Editor in Chief reviews the finalized issue and approves it for publication before PDFing each page.

* See attached edits sheet in appendices.

 

C. All submitted content must be signed by the author in the case of potentially controversial content. The Editor in Chief shall know the author?s name. Pen names may be used with the approval of the Editor in Chief.

D. All submitted content must be sent from a UMass Dartmouth e-mail account in order to verify and validate the source of said content.

E. The Editor in Chief reserves the right to deny publication of any content suspected of libel or containing erroneous statements or accusations, which may be deemed libelous or factually incorrect.

F. The Editor in Chief reserves the right to refuse publication of content for any reason with the approval of the majority of members of the editorial board.

G. The Torch holds the rights to all content submitted for publication. Content may not be shared with or distributed to anyone with the exception of the editorial board prior to printing.

G1. If sources request advanced copy, editors reserve the right to either provide them with any quotes used in the article by the source, but nothing more or deny them any information at their own discretion.

            H. All content shall be formatted according to AP standards

H1. UMass Dartmouth shall always be referred to as UMass Dartmouth or UMass D; it shall never be referred to as UMD

 

 

 

 

VI. Staff policy

A. The Torch editorial board shall consist of the Editor in Chief, Managing Editor, all section editors and other staff members deemed appropriate by the Editor in Chief.

B. Members of The Torch editorial board must be enrolled in at least one class at UMass Dartmouth.

C. Aside from the editorial board, The Torch staff will be comprised of all those listed in the masthead. The masthead will consist of anyone who has submitted at least three articles, photos or illustrations.

C1. After three weeks of inactivity, staff members will be removed from the masthead at the discretion of the Editor in Chief.

C2. A spreadsheet will be kept by the Editor in Chief detailing all contributors outside of the editorial board which documents what they contributed and what issues they contributed to, ensuring fair staff status.

C3. Individuals found abusing privileges associated with Torch employment may also be removed from the masthead.

D. Any editorial board member or staff member found guilty of plagiarism will be removed from the editorial board or staff for the remainder of the academic year.

D1. The editorial board may reinstate the staff or editorial board member the following semester by means of a two-thirds vote.

D2. Situations involving libel or false information in content will be dealt with at the Editor in Chief?s discretion. S/he may choose to have the editorial board vote on an appropriate course of action.

            E. Evaluations for staff will be held on a quarterly basis by both the Editor in Chief and the Managing Editor

            F. In the same respect, anonymous written evaluations for the Editor in Chief and the Managing Editor will be conducted on a quarterly basis

            G. If members of the editorial board or staff do not fulfill requirements of their Job Description, their pay is subject to suspension

 

VII. Advisor policy

A. The Torch shall have three faculty advisors: a Management Advisor, Editorial Advisor and a Design Advisor.

A1. The Management Advisor should serve as a consultant in matters of staffing, distribution, advertisement, business and finances.

A1a. The Managing Editor should meet regularly with the Management Advisor.

A1b. The Editor in Chief is encouraged but not required to meet with the management advisor in conjunction with the Managing Editor.

A2. In the event that both the Editor in Chief and the Managing should leave the editorial board for any reason, the Management Advisor must assume their responsibilities until eligible replacements are found

A2. The Editorial Advisor should serve as a consultant in matters of content, editorial philosophy and experiential learning opportunities.

A2a. The Editor in Chief should meet regularly with the Editorial Advisor.

A2b. The Managing Editor is encouraged but not required to meet with the Editorial Advisor in conjunction with the Editor in Chief.

A3. The Design Advisor should serve as a consultant in matters of design.

A2a. The Design Editor should meet regularly with the Design Advisor.

A2b. The Editor in Chief is encouraged but not required to meet with the Design Advisor in conjunction with the Design Editor.

A4. The Editor in Chief, Managing Editor and Design Editor may accept or refuse advice as s/he sees fit.

 

 

VIII. Election procedures

A. Elections for Editor in Chief will be announced by the last week of February and must be held by the last week of March. The nominees must submit a letter of intent via e-mail one week prior to the election date.

A1. Interviews with the current editorial board should be conducted prior to election.

                        A2. A simple majority vote will determine which nominee is elected.

A2. Once elected, the newly appointed Editor in Chief will work with the current Editor in Chief from the election date through the final issue, slowly assuming the brunt of responsibilities. These duties will include overseeing and managing the final issue of the semester as well as producing a summer orientation issue and planning the annual editorial staff trip to the Associated Collegiate Press summer workshops.

A3. The new Editor in Chief is also responsible for creating an appeal for the Student Fees Allocation Committee, in conjunction with the newly appointed Managing Editor, which includes reviewing current finances and creating a projected budget for the upcoming year. The new Editor in Chief will then present their budget, along with the new Managing Editor, to the SFAC and will redistribute the budget once allocations are received.

B. Contenders for Managing Editor must submit their letters of intent to the newly elected Editor in Chief by the second week in April. The newly elected Editor in Chief, with the approval of the previous Editor in Chief and Managing Editor, will decide upon the new Managing Editor.

B2. Once elected, the newly appointed Managing Editor will work with the current Managing Editor from the election date through the final issue, slowly assuming the brunt of responsibilities.

B3. The new Managing Editor is also responsible for creating an appeal for the Student Fees Allocation Committee, in conjunction with the newly appointed Editor in Chief, which includes reviewing current finances and creating a projected budget for the incoming year. The new Managing Editor will then accompany the Editor in Chief in presenting their budget to the SFAC and will work with the Editor in Chief to redistribute the budget once allocations are received.

C. The Torch elections for the remaining editorial board shall be announced the last week in March and must be held by the last week in April.

C1. All nominees for an editorial board position must submit a letter of intent to the newly appointed Editor in Chief for the upcoming year by the third week in April.

C1a. All letters of intent should be posted in an area open for all editorial board members to review.

C2. Editorial board shall be voted in with a simple majority vote. Any members of the existing editorial board as well as the newly appointed Editor in Chief and Managing Editor are eligible to vote.

 

 

XI. Removal procedures

 A. The Editor in Chief may be removed by a three-quarters majority vote of the editorial board. The Managing Editor is required to oversee the vote for the removal of the Editor in Chief.

A1. If the majority vote is attained, the Managing Editor shall serve as the Editor in Chief until an eligible candidate is voted in by a simple majority vote and trained. The candidate will then hold the position for the remainder of the predecessor?s term. Elections should take place as soon as an eligible candidate is found.

A1a. In the event that the Editor in Chief chooses to leave his/her position, the Managing Editor shall follow the same procedure as in the case of removal, assuming the responsibilities until an eligible candidate is found for replacement.

A2. In the event that both the Editor in Chief and Managing Editor are removed or choose to leave their positions, the remaining editorial board shall elect members for both positions, with the management advisor serving as interim leader until eligible candidates are voted into term.

B. Members of the editorial board may be removed at the discretion of the Editor in Chief.

B1. Members may also be removed by suggestion of members of the editorial board with the final approval of the Editor in Chief.

B2. In the event that a member of the editorial board is removed from or chooses to leave their position, it is up to the discretion of the Editor in Chief and the Managing Editor to appoint and train a replacement. Until the position is filled, the responsibilities of the absent member will be left to the Editor in Chief and Managing Editor until they find an eligible replacement.

 

XII. Job descriptions

A.     Editor in Chief

- Once elected, slowly takes on the brunt of responsibilities, culminating in overseeing the final issue of the year

- Attends weekly staff meetings, or, in the event that the Managing Editor cannot conduct them, conducts the weekly staff meetings

- Conducts weekly editorial board meetings with all section editors, photo editor, illustration editor and webmaster

- Conducts weekly pre-staff meetings with Managing Editor, all section editors, Design Editor, Photo Editor and Illustration Editor to discuss content and layout for the upcoming issue

- Holds a minimum of five office hours a week

- Oversees weekly production

- Has final say in all content-related issues

- PDFs all final pages

- Delivers PDFed files to The Standard Times

- Assists in creation of a running budget for the year

- Assists in creation and presentation of SFAC budget proposal

- Assists in revising constitution

- Establishes and builds relationship with faculty, staff and students both on and off campus to ensure smooth communication with The Torch

            - Responsible for the public image of The Torch and Torch staff

            - Leads by example

            - Acts as a supervisor for editorial staff, Managing Editor and Design Editor

            - Meets with the Editorial Advisor on a regular basis

- Encouraged, but not required, to attend regular meetings with the Management Advisor

            - Helps section editors oversee assignment and coverage of all story ideas

            - Conducts quarterly evaluations of all editorial board and staff

            - Checks editorial voicemail box

 

B. Managing Editor

- Conducts weekly staff meetings

- Conducts weekly business meetings with the Advertising Manager and Distribution Manager       

- Attends weekly pre-staff meetings

- Holds a minimum of five office hours a week

- Oversees all advertising, distribution and financial matters

- Manages staff payroll, including submission of weekly hours

- Collects paychecks every other Friday

- Manages all staff, including discipline, incentives and firing of employees

- Creates and maintains a running budget for the year

- Assists in creation and presentation of SFAC budget proposal

- Assists in revising constitution

- Works with staff to create semesterly office hour schedule and monitors staff attendance for their office hours

- Acts as a supervisor for the Advertising and Distribution staff

- Meets with Management Advisor on a regular basis

- Purchases all supplies for The Torch

- Undergoes Procurement Card training and is sole handler of the Procurement Card

- Encouraged, but not required, to attend regular meetings with the Editorial Advisor

- Conducts quarterly evaluations of all editorial board and staff

 

 

C. Advertising Manager

            - Attends weekly e-board meetings

- Creates a weekly ad run sheet to be submitted to the Design Editor by Monday at noon

- Holds five office hours a week

- Oversees all advertising assistants

- Manages the advertising book as necessary, updating received and pending payments as well as creating a total monthly revenue spreadsheet

                        - Updates all ad rate sheets yearly

- Sends out all invoices and tare sheets every Friday

- Manages relationship with advertising assistants as well as national and local advertising clients

- Delivers inserts to printing company the day before the issue goes to print when necessary

- Checks the Torch Ads account and responds to all e-mails daily

- Checks advertising voice mailbox

 

C1. Advertising Assistants

                        - Holds five office hours and/or client visitation hours a week

- Goes through all archives to document all former ad clients and continually updates advertisement client list with contact information

- Physically seeks out new local advertisers (to be rewarded with commission)

- Reports to the Advertising Manager with clients who are interested in advertising and who require follow-ups

- Following up with advertisers and making sure that their ads run in the appropriate issues with the appropriate design specs

 

D. Design Editor

            - Attends weekly pre-staff meetings

            - Conducts weekly design staff and e-board meetings

- Determines newspaper layout

            - Prints out proofs of every completed page

            - Delegates design work to assistant designers

            - Trains, manages and oversees all assistant designers

            - Creates and edits advertisements as needed

            - Creates infographics and digital illustrations as needed

            - Assists in other Torch design projects as needed

- Meets regularly with the Design Advisor

 

D1. Assistant Designers

                        - Attends weekly staff and e-board meetings

                        - Holds three office hours a week

                        - Assists Design Editor in the layout of the newspaper

                        - Creates and edits advertisements as needed

                        - Creates infographics and digital illustrations as needed

                        - Assists in other Torch design projects as needed

 

E. News Editor

- Attends weekly pre-staff meetings

- Attends weekly staff and e-board meetings

                        - Holds three office hours a week

- Manages all section content, including stories, illustrations, photos, cutlines,  headlines and layout

- Generates weekly story ideas

                        - Monitors the website forum for potential story ideas                       

- Procures writers

- Assigns stories to staff writers

- Edits all received content

                        - Keeps a record of all edits and meets with writers to go over them

- Covers events and writes stories when writers and/or photographers are unavailable

- Creates a weekly run sheet to be submitted to the Design Editor by Tuesdays at noon

- Creates and maintains relationships with members of administration and the Public Safety department as well as members of the UMass Dartmouth community

- Assists in section layout during weekly production nights

 

E1. News Assistant

- Attends weekly staff meetings and is encouraged, though not required, to attend weekly e-board meetings

                                    - Holds three office hours a week

                                    - Helps News Editor generate story ideas

                                    - Assists News Editor in editing all section content

                                    - Writes at least one article per week for the News section

                                    - Helps News Editor acquire and manage News writers

- Encouraged, though not required, to attend production nights and assist with section layout

 

F. Arts and Entertainment Editor/Lifestyles/Campus Life/Life and Entertainment (?)

- Attends weekly pre-staff meetings

- Attends weekly staff and e-board meetings

                        - Holds three office hours a week

- Manages all section content, including stories, illustrations, photos, cutlines,  headlines and layout

- Generates weekly story ideas

                        - Monitors the website forum for potential story ideas                       

- Procures writers

- Assigns stories to staff writers

- Edits all received content

                        - Keeps a record of all edits and meets with writers to go over them

- Covers events and writes stories when writers and/or photographers are unavailable

- Creates a weekly run sheet to be submitted to the Design Editor by Mondays at noon

- Creates and maintains relationships with members of the CVPA department as well as members of the local art community

- Assists in section layout during weekly production nights

 

G. Opinions and Editorial Editor/ The Platform/The Viewpoint/ The Campus Voice(?)

                        - Attends weekly pre-staff meetings

- Attends weekly staff and e-board meetings

                        - Holds three office hours a week

- Manages all section content, including stories, illustrations, headlines and layout

- Generates weekly story ideas

                        - Monitors the website forum for potential story ideas                       

- Procures writers

- Assigns stories to staff writers

- Edits all received content, paying close attention to validity of arguments and statements

                        - Keeps a record of all edits and meets with writers to go over them

- Creates a weekly run sheet to be submitted to the Design Editor by Mondays at noon

- Assists in section layout during weekly production nights

H. Sports Editor

                        - Attends weekly pre-staff meetings

- Attends weekly staff and e-board meetings

                        - Holds three office hours a week

- Manages all section content, including stories, photos, cutlines, headlines and layout

- Generates weekly story ideas

                        - Procures writers

- Assigns stories to staff writers and Sports Assistant

                        - Edits all received content

                        - Keeps a record of all edits and meets with writers to go over them

- Covers games and stories when writers and/or photographers are unavailable

- Creates a weekly run sheet to be submitted to the Design Editor by Mondays at noon

- Creates and maintains relationships with members of the Athletic Department

- Assists in section layout during weekly production nights

 

H1. Sports Assistant

- Attends weekly staff meetings and is encouraged, though not required, to attend weekly e-board meetings

                                    - Holds three office hours a week

                                    - Helps Sports Editor generate story ideas

                                    - Assists Sports Editor in editing all section content

                                    - Writes at least one article per week for the Sports section

                                    - Helps Sports Editor acquire and manage Sports writers

- Encouraged, though not required, to attend production nights and assist with section layout

 

I. Copy Editor

                        - Attends weekly e-board meetings

                        - Holds three office hours a week

- Edits all copy content (including stories, headlines, cutlines, teasers and created advertisements) according to AP standards

- Attends one-time InDesign basics workshop (which will be offered by the University)

 

J. Webmaster

                        - Attends weekly e-board meetings

                        - Holds three office hours a week

                        - Creates and manages The Torch website

                                    ~ Uploads weekly issues to the website by Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m.

 

K. Photo Editor

                        - Attends weekly pre-staff meetings

- Attends weekly staff and e-board meetings

                        - Holds three office hours a week

                        - Acquires, scans and edits all photos

                        - Places photos on the server

- Reports to the appropriate editors with photo content and cutlines for the upcoming issue by Mondays at noon

- Manages and trains a team of staff photographers

- Actively seeks out new photographers

- Procures photographs at editors? request

- Takes photographs when no staff photographers are available

 

L. Illustration Editor

                        - Attends weekly pre-staff meetings

- Attends weekly staff and e-board meetings

                        - Holds three office hours a week

                        - Acquires, scans and edits all illustrations

                        - Places all illustrations on the server

- Reports to the appropriate editors with illustration content for the upcoming issue by Sundays at noon

                        - Actively seeks out new illustrators

                        - Illustrates for articles at editors? request

 

M. Distribution Manager

            - Arrives promptly at time of delivery of newspapers

            - Allocates numbers of papers to be dropped at each location

            - Helps distribute papers to on-campus locations

            - Holds three office hours a week

- Keeps a running weekly spreadsheet of all papers dropped off/picked up per each drop location, which includes keeping running statistics of the effectiveness per location and adjusting distribution accordingly

- Attends e-board meetings on a weekly basis

- Oversees all news bin advertisements and updates

M1. On-Campus Distribution Assistant

                                    - Arrives promptly at time of delivery of newspapers

- Keeps a record of how many papers are dropped off and picked up at each news bin/drop location. Returns weekly records to the Distribution Manager.

- Replaces news bin ads as necessary

 

M2. Off-Campus Distribution Assistant

- Arrives promptly at time of delivery of newspapers on Thursday mornings

- Delivers newspapers to off-campus locations as decided by the Distribution Manager

- Keeps a record of how many papers are dropped off and picked up at each news bin/drop location. Returns weekly records to the Distribution Manager.

 

M3. Cedar Dell Distribution Assistant

- Arrives promptly at time of delivery of newspapers on Thursday mornings

- Rolls and rubber bands the appropriate number of newspapers for the Cedar Dell townhouses (one paper per apartment)

- Delivers all rolled newspapers to the Cedar Dell townhouse doorsteps

- Also delivers newspapers for the news bins in the Cedar Dell community centers

- Keeps a record of how many papers are dropped off and picked up at each news bin/drop location (excluding Townhouse doorsteps). Returns weekly records to the Distribution Manager.

- Replaces news bin ads as necessary

 

N. Work Study Staff Writers

                        - Attend weekly staff meetings

                        - Write a minimum of one assigned story per week

                                    ~Writers can pick up more than one story for additional pay

                        - Pay is only given if section editor approves the story to run