The Columbia Political Union recently launched a magazine to
spur political interest and involvement within the student body. It is
a welcome addition to a small family of campus publications, but
its launch serves as a reminder that there are too few campus
print outlets. Columbia must recognize and support student
publications, especially when they would otherwise face
prohibitive costs. A University of informed and opinionated
students should be able to maintain multiple print venues for
discourse.
Such venues, however, can be hard to finance. Most student
experiments with print have been less than successful. Over the
years, many potential student periodicals have had to cease
production—or never even begin—due to a lack of funding, rather
than a lack of interested readers. Even some of Columbia’s
longest-running publications like The Fed and The Blue
and White have had trouble finding funding other than
advertisement sales, which are themselves not sufficient to
finance a print run. Until the Jester was acquired by
Spectator Publishing Company—Spectator’s parent
company—the humor magazine could not afford to print. Campus
publications should not have to seek corporate backing in order to
survive.
Some of Columbia’s peer universities far outdo Columbia in the
volume of campus print discourse. Harvard’s website, for
example, lists a total of 21 undergraduate publications, and Yale’s
lists 20. Columbia lags behind with 12, some of which are defunct.
A few periodicals at Harvard and Yale boast wealthy alumni
donors, but for the most part, they receive adequate funding from
their respective universities.
The Activities Board at Columbia—and other groups that distribute
money from the student activities fund included in our tuition—has
a notoriously difficult job in sorting out how much money goes to
each campus group. But ABC’s funds are limited, and campus
publications, as well as other campus groups, have come up
short.
The University should charter a publications fund to distribute
money to campus publications. This fund could absorb printing
costs and protect publications from crippling debt.
This University has a reputation for promoting expression. It
should protect that reputation. Students should have outlets for
discourse, and Columbia should help remove financial obstacles
in their way.
