News > November 6, 2008

By Ashton Astbury | Contributing writer

In an Oct. 29 meeting of representatives from the Student Life Committee, Student Government, the Media Board and the university’s yearbook The Howler, it was established that a study committee would be formed in the next few weeks to consider and evaluate the future of The Howler. Membership of the committee has not yet been established, but according to Kenneth Zick, vice president for Student Life, there will “certainly be membership from students and faculty advisors of Student Life, Student Government, the Media Board and The Howler staff, as well as alumni.”

The move to institute the study committee is a response to nearly a decade of declining involvement of students on the yearbook staff and lowered interest in the publication.

According to Mary Gerardy, associate vice president of Student Life, the Media Board designed a survey to supplement the consideration of the future of The Howler earlier in the fall.

Of the 180 students who participated, results yielded a 50/50 split in whether or not students would be interested in the yearbook, and that only 8-9 percent of students would be willing to pay for the yearbook, which previously had been free of charge

On Oct. 20, the Media Board, a committee consisting of the heads of the student media outlets and their advisors, had voted 12-0-4 to suspend the 2009 edition of The Howler in light of a decision from the Student Budget Advisory Committee (SBAC) to cut The Howler’s budget.

In previous years the SBAC had allotted approximatelly $100,000 toward the production of The Howler.

Due to a budget cut from $100,000 to $40,000, The Howler could not produce its 109th volume for the 2008-2009 academic year without working on a deficit.

According to junior Saket Munshaw, Student Government treasurer, the SBAC holds budget hearings every February to plan allocations for the following fiscal year.

Every chartered student organization, exempting Student Union and Greek life, has the option of presenting a budget proposal before the committee for approval.

Last year, the Office of Student Life provided the SBAC with about $592,000 dollars to be allotted to the 130 student organizations on campus.

According to Munshaw, the administration recommended that the SBAC cut The Howler’s budget to $40,000 and that The Howler begin charging for the yearbook.

“The SBAC simply did not have enough money last year,” Munshaw said. “After we cut every (organization’s) budget, we were still $50,000 over the $591,000 provided by Student Life.” SBAC made a seven percent cut to the funds allotted to student organizations.

Junior Jake Gelbort, The Howler’s business manager, the confusion in the proposal can be attributed to the fact that Taylor Publishing and SBAC run on two different accounting cycles.

“We don’t pay the publisher all at once. We pay with installments. The last payment for the 2008 yearbook takes place in the fall when the yearbook comes out, so we need to ask the SBAC for money to pay our debt from last year and our publication for this year, Gelbort said. “That wasn’t taken into account.”

Unfortunately, by the time the error was detected, it was too late for the SBAC to accommodate The Howler’s heightened fiscal needs for this academic year. The allotment of funds had taken place in July, and they could not be made available again.

According to Zick, Student Government has since agreed to set aside an additional $40,000 to fund production of The Howler in the 2009-2010 academic year.

“Of their budget for this year, SBAC would temporarily set aside $40,000 so (this money) would not be in play in February’s budget process, ensuring there would be an adequate baseline reserve to fulfill study committee recommendations.”

In addition to generating a print yearbook with support from the university, the SBAC and the student body, Zick cites other alternatives to what he refers to as “capturing events from a student perspective.”

“Thinking outside the box, you could conceivably distribute yearbook PDF files on a disc, with the option for students to purchase a hard copy generated from the PDF files,” Zick said. “You could also have it online, which is certainly accessible 10 years from now.”

Another option includes producing a yearbook next year that records events from both the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years.

“The Howler is a student organization and (student organizations) are frequently presented with challenging issues,” Zick said. “You have to ask the question, do students really want one and in what form?”

In light of the abundance of Howlers that were not picked up by students in past years, the yearbooks will be available free of charge to all students at the Benson Center Information Desk.