Fighting for Pulse's Future- Isaac Hinson
Former EIC Letter
Hello B & J. Hope this isn’t too late.
My name is Isaac Hinson, I served on The Observer for 8 quarters. From the spring quarter of my freshman year until the fall quarter of the senior year (where I only left because I had literally maxed out the repeatable credits I could take). I started as a staff reporter before being promoted to sports editor, and then to scene editor, and then finally Editor-in-chief for a year. I have also spent multiple quarters as a writer at PULSE Magazine.
Working with The Observer has been the greatest experience of my collegiate career. It gave so much to me. I was taught discipline, efficiency and what it takes to be a leader of strong character. But, I was also taught creativity, passion and what it’s like to work amongst a group of people I consider far more than just coworkers.
Each week aspirational writers, editors, designers and photographers all get to practice and hone their craft in truly meaningful ways. The experience gained working in the Observer and PULSE far outweighs any isolated lesson that can be taught in a traditional classroom. Nothing I have learned in any class has prepared me for my future like the lessons I have learned, the successes I’ve had and the failures I’ve experienced in the office of The Observer.
Intentional or not - the near-complete defunding of student media shows compliance and alignment with the current anti-media and anti-journalist administration in our great country’s White House. The removal of student press from our campus is the removal of transparency from our school’s administration, it’s the removal of someone to keep the people making the most important decisions in-check, and it’s the removal of one of the biggest avenues for student voices to be heard in a way that they maybe, just maybe, will reach the people at the top.
The people making the decisions about their funding only see the final product. Not a single person in administration or the S&A committee has ever seen what it actually takes to create an issue of The Observer or PULSE. None of them know the countless hours and sleepless nights that already far exceed the paid hours we had been allotted in years previous. The designs thrown away at the last minute, the late-breaking story that needs to be put on the front page, the countless interviews done each week, the array of photos taken just to find the one perfect image. Both publications already operated on budgets that were minuscule compared to other institutions. Without funding, why would any student ever want to come to CWU to study journalism?
Across the awards cases in Lind Hall, the phrases “Students Matter” and “Credibility Matters” are printed on the glass covering PULSE and Observers many awards. These moves from S&A and Administration go directly against that messaging, showing that if anything, their students do not matter to them, and credibility is a thought that goes in one ear and out the other.
If CWU, S&A, and President Wohlpart truly care about the students in their communication and journalism programs, then I please urge them to reconsider their proposals. The importance of student media can not be overstated. Free the student press.