The Services & Activities (S&A) Committee cut short public comment after nearly 100 people showed up to SURC 301 to protest the committee’s recently proposed budgets. Despite the fact that the committee’s proposed budgets cut funding to programs across the university (see chart on page 5), most of the speakers came to protest the proposed defunding of student media and Theatre & Film proposals. 

The S&A Committee is a majority student committee responsible for the allocation of student fees to requesting programs across campus. Their proposals are reviewed by ASCWU and VP of Finance and Administration Joel Klucking, then are sent to the Board of Trustees for approval. In spite of the outcry about the current proposals, they are being sent to the Board of Trustees unedited from their original state.

The Observer and PULSE magazine had both posted social media campaigns before the event, asking those interested to attend in support of student media. The attendance exceeded the 87 person maximum capacity of the S&A board room, and many students were turned away or made to stand outside the room.

The more than one hour of public comment was loaded with anger, sadness and an overwhelming sentiment of dissatisfaction with how the defunding of programs was handled. People lined up around the room with the goal of speaking their allotted three minutes in comments to the committee. As people spoke, the room repeatedly erupted with snaps and applause in support of passionate pleas for funding.

At the beginning of the meeting, which was postponed for 15 minutes after its original start time, the S&A Committee stated that they would have to end the meeting at 6:30 p.m. due to students on the committee having “class” and other obligations after the meeting, contrary to what students were told prior to the meeting’s beginning. At 6:28 p.m., the remaining line of students who had yet to speak were cut off and the meeting was promptly adjourned.

The Senator for the College of Arts and Humanities, Gabriel Genzel, discussed the impact the committee’s decisions would have. “I know the S&A is not a paid position, and that you are here hopefully out of the kindness of your heart, but your unpaid position has just jeopardized dozens of paid student jobs that are crucial to supporting our student populations’ experience and programs.”

Former Observer Editor-In-Chief Isaac Hinson spoke about how little the committee seems to know about how The Observer and PULSE Magazine operate. “You, who have made these decisions, do not understand the work that goes into student media. You do not understand how much writing, editing, designing, photography, copy editing, on the ground reporting that goes into this,” Hinson said. “You don’t understand, Joel Klucking doesn’t understand and Jim Wohlpart doesn’t understand.”

Another student and a current ASCWU presidential candidate, Hondo Acosta-Vega, talked about the history of The Observer, and the role it plays at CWU. “I was there in 2018 standing in former Governor Inslee’s office when the Student Press Rights bill was signed protecting [against] censorship, with [former Observer Editors-in-Chief] Mariah Lane and Sean Bessette, for high school and college journalism and media programs. And right now, we need the strength, the dedication and words I cannot describe, but in simple terms, they [student media] are the true voice on this campus. Their ability to do what’s needed, to be direct and connect with the student body is greater than any organization or club I have been a part of,” Acosta-Vega said.

Lane, Bessette and Eric Haugland were among the alumni who attended Tuesday’s committee meeting on Zoom. Lane and Haugland both gave comments. Lane said, “The Observer has a motto that you’ve heard tonight by a couple students, ‘by the students, for the students,’ and that isn’t just some slogan. It’s the heart and soul of the school’s community. By defunding student media, you silence students. We are about to celebrate 110 years of The Observer’s publication, 110 years. If the powers that be follow through in this decision, they will not only undermine a pivotal part of the university’s legacy, they will be making a catastrophic mistake that will hurt current and future students. This can’t happen.”

Multiple public commenters cited issues with transparency in the committee’s decision-making process. One CWU staff member who spoke at the event said, “I would like to say to you, I think that if you wanted the world to know, or the community to know, that they had the ability to come speak before you. I look around and I see a room full of media professionals and budding emerging media professionals who would be elated to help with that marketing, that publicity and that genuine transparency. If that was of value to this committee.”

Current Co-Editor-In-Chief of The Observer, Jackson Roberts, offered the S&A Committee an opportunity to answer a few questions to clarify details about the process which led them to their budget proposal. 

Roberts asked, “When you made the original budget proposal, how much did you know about how The Observer and PULSE operate? Did you research our website? What steps were taken to bring you to the point of practically defunding student media? Are all videos available online of you all going over where money was going to be allocated to? Why are Killian Guidelines an issue now after we have been funded over those guidelines since the ‘90s?” The committee declined to answer the questions.

Dana Culley, student and member of the CWU Mock Trial Club, said, “I want to remind you all of the motto of Central Washington University, ‘live, do and learn.’ I am here as a student who consumes student media, someone who wakes up every Thursday morning excited to go to the stand and pick up a new issue of The Observer. I read it front to back every single Thursday, and I want to share a secret with you all about the mock trial club. Our superpower is love. It’s love for the people and love for the work. And let me tell you, The Observer, PULSE, all these student media groups, they love the work. I see the hard working words and the hope in each and every issue.”

Zoey Ryan, creative director for PULSE magazine, noted the impact this would have on PULSE and student media. “With the proposed fund from S&A, there will no longer be a printed magazine. More importantly, there will be no future generations of students to experience student media like I have,” Ryan said. “This isn’t just the death of student media for me and the people in this room, this is the death of student media at CWU. No longer will students get to experience printed media that proves to them the school is listening.”

“PULSE and [The] Observer are by the students, for the students. We will fight to maintain the life of these publications and we will fight for future students’ voices to be heard and experience student media at Central Washington University,” Ryan said.

Gray Foster, a first-year tour guide in training, referenced an instance of when they talked to a student on tour about student media. “I was able to tell him about The Observer, and I was able to assure him and his mother that he would be safe here and that he would have a voice. He lit up. He seemed so happy, and I felt like I was doing a great job. I felt confident, and I don’t know if I feel like that anymore,” Foster said. “I feel like I lied to him. I don’t know if I feel confident in my decision to be here anymore.”

To listen to the full meeting, including all student comments, follow this link the the S&A’s official archives channel. Click here.