Referendum would ensure survival of The Collegian

By ELIZABETH LEFFALL

Next week, students will have the opportunity to vote for a better student newspaper.

Supported by Associated Students, The Collegian student body fee referendum would allow Fresno State students to decide if the campus newspaper will receive funding directly from general student fees.

The initiative, which would free The Collegian of its current financial dependence on AS, proposes an increase of $1.50 to student fees in the fall of 2005 and an additional $1.00 a year through 2009-2010.

The wording of the referendum ensures the fee increase would be capped at $5.50.

Despite inflation, school documents explaining the allocations of student fees show no increase from AS to The Collegian funds in 16 years. The documents also show that since 2002, fees allocated to the newspaper have actually decreased.

Although The Collegian has served the Fresno State community since 1921, AS Senator and former city council candidate Michael Karbassi said the newspaper “is now fighting for its very survival.”

The Collegian’s adviser, Greg Lewis, said the newspaper is currently dipping into its reserve account and will soon require more money to continue producing three times a week, and maintain its Web site and staff, as well as a business manager.

In the spring of 2004, at the request of the dean of arts and humanities, The Collegian assumed the financial responsibilities of staffing a part-time business manager.

Lewis said additional funding would also allow The Collegian to maintain it’s standing as a laboratory classroom for journalism students and ensure the future existence of the newspaper.

The class, Mass Communication and Journalism 105, is the newspaper production class. It is a required course for staff members of The Collegian and is mandatory for all print journalism majors.

AS President Molly Fagundes said the senate would continue to support the referendum in any way it could.

“The Collegian is worth saving,” Fagundes said.

If passed, the fee increase would also help give the 84-year-old award-winning newspaper a technological facelift.

Lewis said updated technology and equipment would allow the newspaper to keep up with a growing campus and changing environment, and provide students with a top quality paper with more color, more illustrations, more pages and an interactive Web site.

In addition to paying for The Collegian staff, the newspaper promotes diversity by funding four ethnic supplements: The African-American supplement, Uhuru Na Umoja; the Armenian supplement, Hye Sharzhoom; the Asian supplement, Asian Pacific Review; and the Hispanic supplement, La Voz de Aztlan.

Uhuru Na Umoja adviser Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi said supporting the referendum would ensure these unique voices will continue to be a part of Fresno State.

“When I say unique, I’m really trying to say that I think we are forgetting what is at stake here,” Oheneba-Sakyi said. “We are talking about not funding our freedom of speech and our freedom to be culturally different, too. This referendum affects a lot more people than we know.”

Nathan Hathaway, The Collegian’s editor in chief, said if the referendum doesn’t pass, the newspaper may be forced to cutback production from three times a week to once a week.

A 2004 survey conducted by graduate student Doug Carey showed The Collegian ranking among the most cost-effective college newspapers in the California State University system.

Among the 23 CSU, The Collegian remains one of the best values for student dollars per issue, per copy, per student and per year.