Fighting for Pulse’s Future- Maddy Wilson

Letter of Support - Former PULSE Magazine EIC

Hello, 

My name is Maddy Wilson, and I am a former Editor-in-Chief of PULSE Magazine at Central Washington University. Currently, I am a Student Organizations Coordinator at Boise State University where I advise and coordinate three award-winning Student Media programs including a student newspaper, magazine and design agency. 

I am writing today to express my disagreement with the suggested cuts to the PULSE Magazine and Observer budgets, as outlined in the recent budget proposal by the Services & Activities Committee. 

Student Media is a pinnacle of student voices, expression and creativity within many universities. As an alumna of the CWU Student Media program, my experiences led me to pursue a career in higher education where I have since worked with students across the country in areas of design, public relations and marketing. Specifically, in my previous professional role I used my knowledge of journalistic and public relations writing (gained from Student Media) to advise a public relations team on developing press kits and interacting with the media for a multi-million dollar non-profit organization. 

Furthermore, the leadership skills such as public speaking, team management and delegation I gained from my time in Student Media have impacted my day-to-day work in education. However, the impact of Student Media is more than journalism training. 

Beyond the personal impact of CWU Student Media on my career, I want to share some data about financing a Student Media program that is unmanageable given the proposed cuts. A standard printing contract for a weekly newspaper can cost upwards of $25,000 across an academic year. Additionally, a print magazine published twice per quarter can be approximately $20,000+. If you cut down the total allocated for printing to even half of that estimate, you’d still need at least $22,000 in operations to maintain a bi-weekly print newspaper and a magazine printed three times per year. 

Currently, there is a national 25% tariff on all paper goods from Canada, which many American printers source their paper from. Further, this increase in price to import paper has resulted in supply chain issues, causing many American paper producers to increase their prices or be unable to meet the printing demand. There is no predicted end to these tariffs, leading to many proposed budgetary increases for news agencies with printed products. 

If funds from CWU Student Media are cut, there will be no ability to provide a print product to the student body due to the projected increase in printing costs. This budget cut will eliminate an advertising source for campus departments and local businesses (such as ROTC, ATM, Planned Parenthood, Care Net, and more) as well as censor the student voice. Without print papers and magazines available across campus, awareness of Student Media will decrease, thus decreasing students’ awareness of campus news. 

An informed student body is one that can actively engage in their community, advocate for others and grow their learning. By defunding Student Media, I believe the Services & Activities Comittee is silencing the student voice and taking away a source of critical information to the student body. 

Thank you for your consideration, and I hope that a resolution can be made. 
Sincerely,

Maddy Wilson

Editor-in-Chief, PULSE Magazine, 2019-2021 CWU c/o 2021