Save Free Press at UNLV
Donation protected
UNLV's only independent student newspaper is in danger of closing as early as Spring 2017. Ad revenue alone is not enough to keep us afloat, and other funding sources are no longer enough either.
A Brief History of The Rebel Yell:
We have been around since 1955 and used to be funded through ad sales and by receiving 8 percent of student fees collected by CSUN. This became an issue a few years ago when a CSUN president wanted to have a say in picking the editor-in-chief in order for us to continue receiving the funding. Since we report extensively on CSUN and do not want to change that since it's important to hold any group taking student money accountable, this became an ethical dilemma. We split from CSUN and significantly downsized to adapt to the new budget that entailed, which has already made it difficult to produce a quality product. Downsizing even further is not an option. We have been applying for funding from the Student Life Funding Committee each year since then.
The money from this committee is not guaranteed, and for this fiscal year there was only enough in its budget to keep The Rebel Yell afloat for Fall 2016.
If we do not receive an absolute minimum of $30,000 before next semester, we will not be around in any format (our advisory board is not willing to let us go online-only). We are the ONLY source of 100 percent independent, student-produced news at UNLV, meaning we do not subscribe to editorial advice or demands from any authority. We go beyond just promoting the university; we tell the UNLV community what it needs to know. No other UNLV news source reports as extensively as we do on student government, student concerns, etc. Lose us, and you lose that valuable information.
Our long-term solution is to have every student contribute $2 per semester to support operating costs. However, the earliest that can happen is Fall 2018, and we need funding RIGHT NOW.
Please Note: This issue has nothing to do with our name change (which is still happening on schedule by the end of this semester). If there is no student newspaper next semester, it won't even matter what name we change our name to, or if we don't change it at all.
A Brief History of The Rebel Yell:
We have been around since 1955 and used to be funded through ad sales and by receiving 8 percent of student fees collected by CSUN. This became an issue a few years ago when a CSUN president wanted to have a say in picking the editor-in-chief in order for us to continue receiving the funding. Since we report extensively on CSUN and do not want to change that since it's important to hold any group taking student money accountable, this became an ethical dilemma. We split from CSUN and significantly downsized to adapt to the new budget that entailed, which has already made it difficult to produce a quality product. Downsizing even further is not an option. We have been applying for funding from the Student Life Funding Committee each year since then.
The money from this committee is not guaranteed, and for this fiscal year there was only enough in its budget to keep The Rebel Yell afloat for Fall 2016.
If we do not receive an absolute minimum of $30,000 before next semester, we will not be around in any format (our advisory board is not willing to let us go online-only). We are the ONLY source of 100 percent independent, student-produced news at UNLV, meaning we do not subscribe to editorial advice or demands from any authority. We go beyond just promoting the university; we tell the UNLV community what it needs to know. No other UNLV news source reports as extensively as we do on student government, student concerns, etc. Lose us, and you lose that valuable information.
Our long-term solution is to have every student contribute $2 per semester to support operating costs. However, the earliest that can happen is Fall 2018, and we need funding RIGHT NOW.
Please Note: This issue has nothing to do with our name change (which is still happening on schedule by the end of this semester). If there is no student newspaper next semester, it won't even matter what name we change our name to, or if we don't change it at all.
Organizer
Bianca Cseke
Organizer
Las Vegas, NV
