Update: Daily Campus Still Hopeful for Student Fee Increase

Update (March 7):

The results are in. The Daily Campus has lost its bid to receive additional financial support from students, according to the paper's Twitter page.

"It was a close race, but we lost by 266 votes. We're incredibly thankful for those who came out to support us," read a Wednesday morning Tweet by The Daily Campus.

The final count was 1,549 YES, 1,815 NO, according to the DC.

The fate of the student-run newspaper will be officially decided by the UConn Board of Trustees in the coming weeks, according to the paper.

Original Story (March 6):

UConn’s student-run newspaper is in danger of closing or drastically scaling back its operations by the fall of 2014 if it does not receive additional financial support from students, according to its editor in chief.

The Daily Campus has served the for 115 years, and since 1952 has produced five editions each week while classes are in session. But without additional student funds, the paper may revert to being a weekly publication or stop production entirely, Daily Campus Editor-in-Chief Melanie Deziel said Monday.

The Daily Campus is asking for an additional $3 per student, per semester. Students will pay a total of $20 per year to the paper, an extra $6, if the fee increase is approved.

“We’re not trying to make a profit [on the fee increase],” Deziel said.

In order for the increase to go into effect in the fall of 2013, at least 10 percent of the student population must vote in the online referendum that started Monday morning and ends Wednesday at 9 a.m., and of those voting, the majority must approve the fee increase, according to Deziel. (Current UConn students can vote on the referendum at vote.uconn.edu.)

After voting ends, the issue will be presented to the UConn Board of Trustees for a final decision.

Decreasing advertising revenue, general economic decline and inflation are major factors that necessitated the request for increased fees, Deziel said.

“Unless some miracle happens in the economy … we’re on a downward spiral,” Deziel said.

Despite more than $100,000 in budget cuts made since 2005, Deziel said the paper is still losing money. She said a “tremendous drop” in advertising income over the past few years has skewed the paper’s traditional 50/50 revenue model, where roughly 50 percent of revenue came from advertising and the other half came from student fees.

“We’re down to the bare bones,” she said.

Hoping to reach as many students as possible, the Daily Campus has started a social media campaign to plead its case.

While there has not been an outcry of opposition to the fee increase, some students have questioned the timing of the request, particularly in the stagnant economic climate.

Others have raised the idea of an online-only Daily Campus, posting such suggestions on the paper’s Facebook page. The paper has made some of its special editions digital only and reduced its circulation somewhat but not to a point to jeopardize its advertising opportunities, according to its page.

The newspaper isn’t the only student organization that is seeking some financial relief in the form of additional student fees.

The Daily Campus staff is working with the UConn Nutmeg Yearbook staff to promote each organization’s respective fee increase, Deziel said. The yearbook is hoping for an extra $2 per student, per semester, for total of $10 per student, per year. Deziel said the “two groups [are] sticking together and working together” to support the increases.

UConn’s Undergraduate Student Government is also seeking a fee increase. The group wants an extra $5 per student, per semester, for a total of $90 per student, per year. According to the USG Facebook page, the organization does not pay its members; instead it uses the money to fund various student academic, cultural and athletic clubs, and other programs.