Proposal would cut all funding for printed newspaper at Va. university

VIRGINIA — The print edition of the Captain’s Log, the student newspaper at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va., could soon be no more.

During a May 11 meeting with Dean of Students Kevin Hughes, staff members learned of a proposal to cut all funding from the newspaper’s print version.

The proposal, which Hughes said is part of a campus-wide effort to “go green,” would not take effect until the 2012-13 academic year.

The newspaper staff, however, is concerned that the administration’s move is a direct response to some of their coverage over the past school year. 

“[The newspaper’s] agenda this year has been investigative journalism,” Captain’s Log adviser Terry Lee said, adding that student journalists took “unbelievable heat for not sticking with the lighter, features reporting that the school is used to seeing.”

Editor-in-Chief Emily Cole cited multiple articles — one on the operational suspension of a campus fraternity and another on an admissions snafu in which 2,000 acceptance emails were mistakenly sent to applicants — that may have rubbed school officials the wrong way.

During a Feb. 23 meeting with Provost Mark Padilla, Lee said he was told the student journalists were working as “scandal mongers” through their reporting.

University spokeswoman Lori Jacobs wrote in an email that the administration “neither likes nor dislikes the student newspaper. The administration recognizes that the student newspaper has a right to publish what it sees fit, even if those stories contain inaccuracies, fall short of standard journalistic practices or are offensive to large segments of the university community.”

Since February, Lee has been called into three other meetings with university officials to discuss the newspaper. Though Lee has asked administrators to point to specific coverage that could be considered objectionable, he said he has never been given a concrete response.

Cole said she is “not even sure if our administration has even read any of our stories. It’s clear that they don’t know what we do.”

Apart from a letter addressing budgetary concerns that was presented to the Captain’s Log by Hughes, Cole said there has been no written correspondence on the specifics of the proposal.

“Where this is all coming from has been very mysterious,” Cole said. “He (Hughes) needs to tell us more.”

In addition to cutting funds for the print edition of the Captain’s Log two years down the road, the administration has also announced that it will not provide funding for Limelight and Currents — two literary magazines — for the upcoming academic year.

In the letter Hughes gave to the Student Media Board — an umbrella organization that allocates funds between campus publications and serves as a link between student journalists and the administration — students were told that the school’s Student Activities Fee Appropriations Committee “recognizes the value of Limelights and Currents, [but has] a greater responsibility to the student body. In short, the committee is charged with making sound and responsible financial decisions.”

Both publications failed to meet their target number of issues for the year, which was part of the rationale to cut funding, the letter said.

Students have also been told by administrators that the university is looking to transform the media board into a club, a move Lee said would severely inhibit its ability to procure university funding and to “serve as a firewall for the freedom of the press.”

Matthew Davenport, a rising senior at CNU and chairman of the media board, agreed, adding that he is currently drafting a letter to Hughes addressing the need to maintain the board in its current form.

“It’s no secret that the administration hates the Captain’s Log,” Davenport said.

Though funding for the print edition is safe for at least one more year, Rachel Carter, the newspaper’s business manager, said the student journalists are looking for “more longevity in the budget.”

Cole said the administration has offered to provide funding for the newspaper to expand its online operations and technological resources, but has balked at the prospect of allocating those same funds to printing costs.

“The print edition has made the administration look bad around campus, and they apparently don’t like that,” Cole said.

Printing costs for the newspaper have decreased consistently over the past few years, she added.

“If the Captain’s Log wishes to pursue a print edition, the Captain’s Log may rely on advertising revenue or outside sources of income,” Jacobs wrote. “The university does not seek to inhibit student speech. It is disappointing that our student journalists apparently do not understand the university’s commitment to the Constitution and seek to impugn the administration’s motives.”

In addition to the school’s campus-wide effort to increase environmental sustainability, Jacobs said the move to an online-only platform would help bring the student newspaper in line with new media trends.

To help the Captain’s Log, Cole said she has already begun contacting newspaper alumni for support. She is also working on submitting requests under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to top administrators at CNU, in hopes of getting more information about the budget changes.

“I’m going to do what it takes to make sure that there’s a paper to put out,” she said.

While Cole is ready for a long fight, Lee said he is hoping for a speedy resolution.

“I don’t like how polarized things have become. My feeling is that this has to sift out sooner or later,” Lee said. “Either way, though, I’ll support my students in whatever they choose to do.”