Imagine, just for a moment, what life would be like if The Tiger no longer existed. Who would you turn to for information when a CATbus catches fire? Who would call out CUSG when it does something shady? What would you use for last minute wrapping paper when there are no newspapers to be found?
Unfortunately, that future isn’t far off.
The Tiger, like many student-run newsrooms across the country, is struggling financially. And no one’s been talking about it — until now.
That’s why on April 25, The Tiger will be participating in the “unofficial” Support Student Journalism Day. We’re proud to stand with the staff of the Independent Florida Alligator at the University of Florida, who started the movement, and student media outlets across the U.S. to #SaveStudentNewsrooms.
The Tiger’s financial woes began long before any of our current staff came to Clemson. In Fall 2013, we went into the red, amassing tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Since that time, we’ve tried our hardest to climb out of the hole and get back in the black.
We stopped paying our staff in Fall 2014. Today, all of our student journalists do their work for free.
In 2015, after nearly a decade of being financially independent, we went to CUSG and asked for funding, and we’ve received annual funding since. But that funding can’t make up for the continuing fall in advertising revenue, and the day may come when CUSG is no longer willing to make up the difference between our printing costs and our ad sales.
Needless to say, we’re not going to go down without a fight. Yes, production nights are grueling. Yes, there are times when some of us think about quitting. Yes, we get upset when someone criticizes our work. Despite all of the blood, sweat and tears that comes with working here, we will go to the ends of the Earth to keep this newsroom operating.
That’s because The Tiger has provided each of us with an experience we couldn’t get anywhere else. If it weren’t for The Tiger, some of us wouldn’t have gone on to become award-winning journalists, doctors, lawyers and teachers. There are children that would not have been born had their parents not met in our newsroom.
Today, these experiences and opportunities are in jeopardy. Future Clemson students, and college students across the U.S., may not get the same chances as those that came before them.
That’s why we’re joining the #SaveStudentNewsrooms movement, and we’re asking everyone reading this to join in on it, too. We can’t save The Tiger, and other student media outlets, without your help.
The Tiger has been roaring for Clemson for 111 years. Help us continue to roar for decades to come.
To support The Tiger, please consider donating to the Dr. Louis Henry ‘53 Endowment by calling Clemson University’s Annual Giving Office at 864-656-5896.
Staff editorials are composed by The Tiger’s editorial board. Editorials reflect at least a two-thirds majority of the board. In representing the majority view, staff editorials may not represent the individual view of any particular member.
