Dear Colleagues: As our students have written about this week on The Observer and PULSE websites, we learned over spring break that the S&A Committee has proposed a near defunding of student media – The Observer, celebrating its 110-year anniversary in 2026, and PULSE magazine. The student literary journal, Manastash, part of the English Department, faces a similar situation, as do other groups on campus. Although we understand the need for cuts, financial decisions reveal values. The Observer and PULSE are nationally award-winning campus news organizations; their existence supports free speech and a forum for students , while their traditional funding by student fees ensures an independent and free press – by the students for the students – on the CWU campus. The proposed allocations – $1,100 of $56,375 requested for Observer and $2,000 of $28,412 requested for PULSE – will not be anywhere near enough to maintain these operations, which rely on paid student salaries to take on leadership roles with great responsibility. PULSE also relies on S&A funding to support its printing of 1,000 quarterly copies, which get fully distributed and, frankly, fly off shelves. Defunding student journalists sends the message that student voices don’t matter . The move, which requires approval by administrators and trustees, undermines the student press’s crucial role in informing students about occurrences on campus and holding campus leadership accountable. Please read our students’ eloquent statements about this in the links above. We are writing to ask for your support in petitioning the S&A Committee, ASCWU student government representatives, VP Joel Klucking and the CWU Board of Trustees to reject the Committee’s current proposal . In their final vote about The Observer defunding, the Committee seems to be making its own plea for just such a reversal. The minutes read: “It feels wrong and is very sad, but this is just a recommendation and still has to be approved by the groups.” Please support CWU student media by signing your name to this letter and/or sending your own message to the relevant parties. Thank you,
Eun Young Lee, Chair of Department of Communication Mark Meister, Professor, Department of Communication Jennifer Green, Faculty Adviser, The Observer and PULSE Josh Nelson-Ichido, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Mary Eberhardinger, Lecturer, Communication
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