The Public Editor

TCU Senate treasurer Matt Shapanka has clarified that his use of the term "status quo" in describing the budgetary outlook for student publications means that they will not receive less money in 2010 than in 2009. Shapanka notes that the Senate's budget comes from the Student Activities Fee which is a component of tuition, rather than deriving from investments or business ventures or anything else susceptible to shifting markets. Because of this, the amount of money the Senate has to work with is insulated from economic turbulence, and they are able to ensure generally consistent funding from one year to the next.

Obviously publications that rely on the Senate, rather than purely on ad revenue, will be more shielded from economic anemia than their counterparts in professional journalism. I suppose my concern would have been better couched in relation to potential publications that may not be able obtain funding to get off the ground. Also, nascent publications such as Roundtable (which I believe only published once last semester) will have to continue to put out issues with a rarity that does not bode well for building steady readership. Still, I appreciate that the Senate is doing all they can to ensure publications will not see funding reductions, something for which I am sure campus editors are grateful.