Bulldog Weekly Goes Independent
Donation protected
The Bulldog Weekly was once the official student-run publication of the University of Redlands funded by the Associated Students of the University of Redlands (ASUR), the university’s student government. On December 10, 2014, ASUR voted to cut the funding of the newspaper and put it on what they called a “temporary hiatus” due mostly to an article published about an alumni donation that the university’s administration took issue with. The university and ASUR cited “quality issues,” problems with the “advising structure,” “slanted journalism,” monetary concerns, as well as a lack of “educational” opportunities for writers. Since the paper was shut down, both ASUR and the university have consistently reframed the reasons for defunding, however, we believe this to be an issue of censorship. Read our initial account here .
In addition, several articles have been published on the hiatus, the links to which you will find below:
-Funding for University of Redlands’ school newspaper cut by student group
-University of Redlands newspaper placed on hiatus
-University of Redlands’ student newspaper shut down draws protest
-University of Redlands’ Bulldog Weekly under scrutiny
-Student papers foster discussion
-The shutting down of Bulldog Weekly
Student and faculty discontent over the removal of the paper spawned a protest, which took place on the steps of the university’s administration building on January 20, 2015. View the protest here .
At the beginning of the Spring 2015 semester, a committee was formed to address the supposed problems and to devise a new system for the paper. The committee met for the first time on January 23, then again the following three weeks. We the co-editors believe this committee has been wildly unproductive due to fundamental disagreements about the reason for the shutdown, as well as repeated suggestions that total freedom of the press was not a shared value among all of the committee members (view the adminstration's explanation of the hiatus and the minutes from the committee meetings here ). As a result, we have met with the Bulldog Weekly staff and as a group agreed that an exclusively online independent press is the best avenue toward reinstating the paper, for the time being.
Prior to the hiatus, our staff was paid on a weekly basis. Because of the hiatus, our staff members have lost their jobs and are not being paid in the interim. In order to move forward with the online publication we require a fund to both launch the website and provide our staff with strike relief payment. A portion of the fund would go toward paying for the website platform and domain name, and the rest will go to our staff.
It is our hope that those who share our value of the freedom of the press, and the right for students to have a voice on their campus, will contribute to our cause.
Thank you!
Taylor Holmes and Morgan York
Co-Editors-in-Chief
In addition, several articles have been published on the hiatus, the links to which you will find below:
-Funding for University of Redlands’ school newspaper cut by student group
-University of Redlands newspaper placed on hiatus
-University of Redlands’ student newspaper shut down draws protest
-University of Redlands’ Bulldog Weekly under scrutiny
-Student papers foster discussion
-The shutting down of Bulldog Weekly
Student and faculty discontent over the removal of the paper spawned a protest, which took place on the steps of the university’s administration building on January 20, 2015. View the protest here .
At the beginning of the Spring 2015 semester, a committee was formed to address the supposed problems and to devise a new system for the paper. The committee met for the first time on January 23, then again the following three weeks. We the co-editors believe this committee has been wildly unproductive due to fundamental disagreements about the reason for the shutdown, as well as repeated suggestions that total freedom of the press was not a shared value among all of the committee members (view the adminstration's explanation of the hiatus and the minutes from the committee meetings here ). As a result, we have met with the Bulldog Weekly staff and as a group agreed that an exclusively online independent press is the best avenue toward reinstating the paper, for the time being.
Prior to the hiatus, our staff was paid on a weekly basis. Because of the hiatus, our staff members have lost their jobs and are not being paid in the interim. In order to move forward with the online publication we require a fund to both launch the website and provide our staff with strike relief payment. A portion of the fund would go toward paying for the website platform and domain name, and the rest will go to our staff.
It is our hope that those who share our value of the freedom of the press, and the right for students to have a voice on their campus, will contribute to our cause.
Thank you!
Taylor Holmes and Morgan York
Co-Editors-in-Chief
Organizer
Benjamin Purper
Organizer
Redlands, CA
