Today, the undergraduate student government will vote on whether to include the student fee referendum “Practicing Leadership & Empowerment to Develop Growth Thru Education” on the ballot for this year’s election.
The Daily Bruin Editorial Board strongly implores the members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council to put the referendum on the ballot, because it would greatly benefit eight campus groups, including the UCLA Communications Board.
The Communications Board is the official publisher of UCLA student media. It oversees the Daily Bruin, seven newsmagazines, BruinLife yearbook, UCLAradio.com, bruinwalk.com and the Bruin Business Review.
“Practicing Leadership & Empowerment to Develop Growth Thru Education” will provide extra financial support for student recruitment, retention and media departments and will support many of the student-run and student-initiated programs on campus by adding a $12.75 student fee per student per quarter.
Other student organizations on the ballot are the Community Programs Office, some of whose funds will be allocated to the newly developed funding committee, the Student Risk and Education Committee; the Student Initiated Access Committee; the Campus Retention Committee; the UCLA Bruin Marching Band; and the USAC external vice president’s office. A quarter of the funds collected will go toward providing undergraduate financial aid.
To avoid a conflict of interest ““ we are indeed on the ballot ““ the Daily Bruin will not provide USAC endorsements for this year’s election. We do not want to seem as if we are trading endorsements with any of the student slates or candidates running for position.
Instead, we will provide very thorough coverage in our News section in the coming weeks of the candidates, their platforms and their potential responsibilities for next year.
Student Media at UCLA exists as a community service by providing news and entertainment to the UCLA community and gives students on campus a voice to express their opinions. It is also an educational tool, an outlet for students to learn how to produce quality journalism and prepare for a career in the field.
The Student Media department is not immune to industry trends of declining advertising revenue, and even severe budget cuts. The Tribune Company declared bankruptcy several months ago, and the Daily Bruin remains the only UC campus newspaper that still publishes five times a week.
With news and information becoming increasingly accessible and advertisers finding cheaper ways to market products on the Internet, all media outlets are facing funding problems. However, the need for journalists remains to provide an objective, balanced and investigative report on campus activities.
If our main sources of funding continue to decline as they have been ““ and we project that they will ““ the department and its 12 publications face serious short- and long-term threats.
Instead of continuing to cut every extra penny to get by with a bare minimum of funds, we are desperate for new sources of funding, which can be accomplished through the fee referendum.
While the Student Media department tries to develop innovative ways to generate funding, the referendum will provide us with an immediate source of revenue that will give us some breathing room as we try to come up with an appropriate long-term business model.