Articles of Agreement for The Gadfly
Preamble
The Gadfly is a satirical newspaper driven by the underlying principles of democracy and student-driven action—it is a paper that needs no introduction. In order to protect The Gadfly from external and internal division, all members are bound by certain rights and burdens, enacted and enforced through The Articles of Agreement for The Gadfly. A member of The Gadfly newspaper is referred to in parlance as a “Gadfly,” with the plural form of “Gadflies.”
I. Sectors of Responsibility
The Gadfly operates under tight deadlines, and because of this, The Gadfly is not guaranteed timely warnings for external threats. To mitigate the risk of a slow response to an issue that requires immediate attention, there exist three (3) different classes of responsibility in The Gadfly. While all persons are equally entitled to The Gadfly’s successes, only the people in higher sectors are to be held responsible for failures and are to bear the brunt of externally enforced punishments for said failures. The first sector of participation is to be General Members; General Members are not expected to take on any specific responsibility regarding roadblocks or failures. The second sector is to be Staff Intermediaries; Staff Intermediaries—by nature of the system used by the school—will be forced to take on some responsibility and oversight. The third sector is to be The Steering Committee; The Steering Committee is expected to take on all responsibility for any problems, must immediately rectify any problems, and must ensure that the rights of all Gadflies are respected to the fullest extent of The Articles of Agreement for The Gadfly.
II. Responsibilities of the Steering Committee
The Steering Committee will draft rules for all Gadflies to vote on and is tasked with making quick time-sensitive decisions in situations where the continued existence of The Gadfly is under an extant threat—and, given the urgency, it cannot be expected that The Gadfly in its entirety will hold a vote before the situation can worsen significantly. These temporary veto powers are ephemeral, and are to be used only under dire circumstances. The Steering Committee must inform all other Gadflies of any decisions when they are made. All members of The Steering Committee must be fully accessible as ambassadors of The Gadfly. The Steering Committee must be ready and willing to censor content created by any Gadfly if they deem it necessary to protect the paper’s integrity or maintain a level of moral conviction. The Steering Committee must not abuse their censoring power. When the Steering Committee dies, leaves, or otherwise moves on, they are expected to provide a written 'last will' that describes their plans for The Gadfly until a new Steering Committee is created. If any allegations are brought against a member of The Steering Committee, in that they have failed to respect these Gad-given rights, then all Gadflies of The Gadfly—excluding the accuser and accused—must review relevant evidence. If the accused are found guilty of violating any of the rights laid out in The Articles of Agreement of The Gadfly, they are to be immediately terminated from the Steering Committee and, at the discretion of a group vote by all other Gadflies, terminated from The Gadfly.
III. Rights of General Gadflies
Gadflies have the right to total anonymity if they so choose. All Gadflies have the right to leave The Gadfly at any point, for any reason, without fear of consequence. All Gadflies generally have the right to see their works published without major revision, except in cases where the original work poses a particular threat to the survival of the paper, the quality is deemed too low for publishing, or the particular argument established in the work is so heinous and ethically antithetical to The Gadfly that publishing it would be seen as a sign of moral failure. In most instances, such works will be sent back to the author rather than edited directly.
IV. Independence, Teacher Sponsors, & Denying The Will of the Forces That Led to the Principal of Laurel Heights Secondary School Warning us on the Issues Regarding Said Independence (ITS&DTWotFTLttPoLHSSWuotIRSI)
Independence is an important aspect of The Gadfly, as it lets its Gadflies explore the implications of their arguments fully without fear of reactionary censorship by external forces. That being said, those very forces require a “Teacher Sponsor” in order to forcibly remove independence and inhibit & de-fang unauthorised student activity. The Gadfly recognises the necessity of a Staff Intermediary but denies the power of said Intermediary over the activities of The Gadfly. The Staff Intermediary will review all content in an issue prior to publication, as well as review all activities that pertain to school activities. Their advice will be heavily considered, but it is not final, so as to protect the Staff member in case of anti-student activity forces taking offence at The Gadfly’s collective work.
V. Democratic Systems
The Gadfly strives for unanimity in its Gadflies but recognises that, due to differences in opinion, it may not always achieve this. As such, The Gadfly operates under a supermajority democracy; this, in the context of The Gadfly, is defined as a vote where there must reach at least 70% in favour, or the next closest percentage respective to The Gadfly’s current Gadfly-count. As of 2026, with 4 Gadflies, this percentage is 75%. Whenever a problem arises, the Extra-Issue documents will be reviewed by The Steering Committee, and changes will be proposed. Said changes will be voted on by all Gadflies. The Staff Intermediary may review such changes to provide perspective but will not vote on any changes and, as such, is not responsible for any changes that go forward. New rules, changes, and Gadfly-initiates will not go forward without a supermajority vote. A failure to vote will be treated as a ‘nay’. In the event where at least 70% of the group is not present (or the next largest percentage relative to group size), a vote cannot take place. If a vote cannot reasonably take place, The Steering Committee is permitted to introduce temporary measures to solve the issue, which are to be repealed as soon as a vote can reasonably take place, or after forty-eight (48) hours have elapsed since the temporary measures were enacted.