[ad_1]
A group that advocates for speech and press freedoms is criticizing Penn State University’s decision to eliminate funding for its student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, saying the cut suggests the university does not truly support free expression.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression registered its concerns in a letter to Matthew Schuyler, chairman of Penn State’s board of trustees. The foundation questioned the cut at a university that maintains two private airplanes used by administrators for personal travel and pays its football coach millions of dollars.
FIRE, based in Philadelphia, says the 136-year-old student publication has served the campus and broader journalism community with distinction, receiving national awards for its journalism and producing graduates who have had a large impact on the profession, securing honors including the Pulitzer Prize.
The Foundation “is concerned by Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees’ recent decision to completely revoke funding for The Daily Collegian,” wrote Lindsie Rank, Student Press Counsel for FIRE, in the July 28 letter.
“Less than a year ago, Penn State declared: ‘Free speech and expression of ideas are essential to higher education’s academic and civic missions,’ ” she stated. “Yet, by obliterating support for The Collegian, Penn State makes clear the university supports expressive freedoms in name, but not practice.”
The letter refers to a trustees decision July 21 to phase out financial support in its general fund for The Daily Collegian — meaning a 53% reduction to $200,000 this coming academic year and then zero by 2024-25.
It came as the university and its president, Neeli Bendapudi, have worked to cut a budget deficit for 2022-23 that at one point was $140 million. The university’s newly approved budgets for 2023-24 and 2024-25 reflect spending cuts in areas across the university.
Penn State spokesman Wyatt Dubois declined comment on the FIRE letter but noted that efforts to find alternative funding for all campus media, including The Collegian, date to last fall.
He said “for decades, no other student media has received the level of support directly from the University as has The Collegian,” adding that it also receives in-kind support such as scholarships for students, travel support and other measures. He said the College of Communications will continue efforts to raise money for all student media.
Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers has said “the university still proudly supports The Collegian, which now has a newly renovated home in the heart of campus in Willard Building — a state-of-the-art facility with studios, recording booths, newsrooms and the latest technology that provides students with real-life experiences.”
She said characterizing it as a funding elimination is incorrect. She said administrators and students are discussing creation of a news consortium with The Collegian and several other media, among them The Lion 90.7 FM and CommRadio, to create a more sustainable funding model. That proposed funding model would align Penn State with approaches by other universities, she added.
Nevertheless, the publication’s editor-in-chief, Nick Stonesifer, expressed resolve but also disappointment in a letter to campus last month titled “The Daily Collegian receives 100% funding cut by 2024-25.”
In a July 27 article, the Tribune-Review quoted Collegian alumni who have made their mark in journalism and other fields as saying they owe their careers to their time at The Collegian. They decried the funding cut as short-sighted, and an official with the Associated Collegiate Press, an organization based in Minnesota, said campus publications nationally are under similar pressure.
FIRE defends free speech and press on and off campuses under a recently expanded mission. The group says it defends free press on campus by advocating for the rights of student journalists.
“We understand Penn State is operating at a deficit and seeks to balance its budget, but financial decisions reveal value judgments,” Rank wrote in her letter. “The deficit is apparently not so low as to prevent the university from maintaining two private airplanes used for personal travel by administrators.
“And like many state universities, Penn State prioritizes athletic expenditures, including a $700 million stadium renovation and an annual salary of more than $6 million for its football coach,” Rank wrote. “The deficit also does not appear to necessitate cutting the more than $400,000 of funding for publications by university Development and Alumni Relations.
“Yet, for student publications, the university says it cannot afford The Collegian’s traditional $425,000 allocation, or to even maintain the newspaper’s current $200,000 allocation. In other words, Penn State puts a value of $0 on an independent student press.”
Rank said Penn State has an opportunity “to put its money where its mouth is: If the university truly believes in the importance of a free speech culture, it must invest in student voices, including The Collegian.”
The letter said FIRE seeks from Penn State a substantive response no later than Friday “outlining how Penn State intends to support student press.”
Bill Schackner is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bill by email at bschackner@triblive.com or via Twitter .
[ad_2]
Source_link
