The editors of five campus publications have demanded increased funding, calling the College's current policy "unreasonable and unacceptable."
In a letter to Director of Student Activities Linda Kennedy and Student Assembly President Jon Heavey '97, the editors of the Beacon, BLD, the Jack O' Lantern, screed and Uncommon Threads said the Committee on Student Organizations "and the College are doing the students and community a disservice" by giving the publications insufficient funds.
Kennedy said she was not aware the editors were unhappy with the funds.
"I have not heard from any one of these people" except the editors of the feminist collective Uncommon Threads, Kennedy said.
According to Kytja Weir '98, the editor of Uncommon Threads, "A lot of publications have had to stop publishing, or they've had to decrease their number of issues."
"In the Upper Valley and Hanover, the advertisers don't have much incentive to advertise, especially in a paper that only comes out once or twice a term," she said. "Advertising is very hard to come by."
Mirick described it as a "catch-22": issues cannot get advertisements if they do not publish regularly, but they cannot publish regularly without advertisements.
The letter demands that a new publications fund be established and administered by COSO to match advertising revenue secured by publications, and that debts incurred by prior editors be waived.
Kennedy declined to comment on the possibility of forgiving prior debts or matching advertisement revenue.
The letter also demands an office with a computer, printer, scanner and space for files that all campus publications can use.
The office currently occupied by The Sports Weekly is meant to be a communal publications office, Kennedy said.
"They have an office," Kennedy said. "There isn't any equipment just yet, but COSO is planning to purchase the equipment."
"There is a computer there, but it belongs to the Sports Weekly," Mirick said. Although he said The Sports Weekly has let them use the computer, "if there is any conflict, we have to let [The Sports Weekly] use the computer."
Kennedy said furnishing the office has been a minor priority, "since [she hasn't] heard from any of them that they're even planning to publish."
The letter says that COSO usually matches funds given by the Assembly, but because the Assembly no longer gives money to publications, there will be no COSO funds.
The Assembly "no longer has that money -- the policy needs to be changed," Kennedy said.
"The old funding policy was that newspapers had to be 100 percent self-sufficient and the journals were 100 percent funded by COSO," Kennedy said. "That policy was long-standing. It was changed last year."
Bound journals are allotted up to $2,100 per year from COSO to completely fund one issue. Three more issues in newspaper format can also be funded for up to $275 per issue.
For newspapers, an initial $275 contribution from COSO may be used for the first issue.
The letter also demands that COSO continue to fund first-ever issues of new publications.
"They will fund the first issue of a paper in its entirety, and then for every subsequent issue you're supposed to make 25 to 50 percent profit," Weir said.
Screed Editor Bill Kartalopoulos '97 said he will consider seeking COSO recognition for screed if the COSO rules for publication are changed to reflect the demands of the letter.
Jack O' Lantern humor magazine Editor Chris Miller '97 said he organized meetings between the editors after hearing complaints about problems from insufficient COSO funding.
"After everybody's frustrations, I thought if they didn't want to listen to me, they might listen to" a collection of editors, Miller said.
Miller said Kennedy has recommended T-shirt sales as ways to augment advertisement revenue for student publication.
