Hello All,
During spring break, we received notice that The Services & Activities (S&A) Committee plans to defund The Observer, an institution which has been a part of the CWU campus for over 100 years and serves as the voice of students. We implore you to reconsider this decision, and to seriously look at the ramifications of completely defunding student media. If this decision is to pass, it will mean the silencing of student voices as well as of a free and independent student press, by the students for the students, in a time when journalism matters now more than ever.
Student media at CWU are funded by fees paid by students, funds decided by the S&A Committee. In the S&A Committee’s minutes from March 17, 2025, the committee announced its plans to defund The Observer based on supposed violations of Killian Guidelines, which are the basic principles governing the use of S&A fees. Yet, just a couple of days earlier, according to the S&A Committee’s minutes from March 14, 2025, they originally planned to fund us $36,246, regardless of Killians Guidelines, for salaries, travel, and awards, but no printing. The Killian Guidelines have never been an issue in the past and the committee even stated in the meeting that defunding The Observer “feels wrong and sad, but this is just a recommendation and still has to be approved by the groups.”
We are writing this message to request that the S&A Committee’s proposal be rejected and that The Observer continue to receive proper funding for student hourly pay for a small staff, awards, professional memberships, office operations and potential travel. When we applied for this round of funding we requested what would be the bare minimum to keep this campus institution afloat.
Originally, The Observer presented three options to the S&A funding committee for our four-year base funding renewal 2026-2029: To continue printing weekly, to print biweekly, or to switch to a web-only format. The request ranged from a maximum $56,375 to continue current operations, to a minimum $36,346 to switch to a digital-only news outlet, a fraction of the funding The Observer has historically received. We were originally granted $36,346 on March 14, and we were prepared to switch to digital, as many campus newspapers have done. We were not prepared to have the rest of our operational budget stripped away. Following the March 17 deliberations, the S&A Committee proposed an annual budget of $1,100, which they said should be used for award submissions and web hosting for a digital format.
The reasoning provided by the S&A committee showcases a severe disconnect in the decision making process, as without funding there will be no Observer to submit for awards. These awards reflect well on the University, showing the high level of quality student media shows here at CWU. In simplest terms, the submitted $1,100 will not be enough to continue The Observer in any regard, it is not a feasible proposition. This proposed budget is not a budget, it is a death sentence to one of CWU’s longest running institutions, and to discredit it as just a class based on the amount of hours students have put into the paper is a disservice to the nearly 110 years of work that has built the campus newspaper into the award-winning institution it is today.
While it may act as a college course, the time we spend outside of class investigating stories, interviewing sources, writing, editing and designing, is that of a full-time news outlet. It requires far more than just another three-credit class; covering the news factually and thoroughly requires much more work. It is what we are passionate about, not only because of the great work we feel we are doing, but also the opportunities this work gives us to improve in our respective fields and provide a voice and outlet for students.
We, as the Co-Editors-In-Chief, can speak to the sheer amount of work required to put into this paper on a weekly basis, already drastically exceeding our paid hours and credit hours. And that is not counting the 20+ out-of-class hours our design and editing team each individually put into the paper every single week. Paid salaries are essential for those leadership positions. These are positions of great responsibility. We are liable for what all of our student reporters publish, and we take our roles seriously. Leadership is also responsible for mentoring writers/designers, helping run class, and consistently staying in contact with reporters, photographers and designers for updates.
The Observer serves a unique role to the campus as the voice of the students and a watchdog of campus administration, holding the powers-that-be accountable and shining a light on issues of concern to students. In the last quarter alone, we have covered stories ranging from issues with dining, heating in the library, budget proposals, a Q&A with Wohlpart, and gauging student voices for other concerns. We receive praise from students and staff on campus for the work that we put out weekly. Because of the years of work we have done, we have seen The Observer win awards, we have had students invited to speak at panels, and we have made important friendships and connections to help us in our future careers. The fact we have been able to put out the type of product we have and continue to win awards with the already limited funding we have, as well as significantly fewer staff members compared to other universities, is a testament to the efforts of our leadership team and the entire staff.
Please reconsider approving a defunding of your campus newspaper.
