Recently the UW-Milwaukee student newspaper The Post announced that it might have to temporarily cease publication due to a lack of finances. They are currently working on a new $3 per student fee to help support the papers operation.

It’s no secret that newspapers are struggling financially and this would seem like a reasonable course of action in order to try and stay in business. Somehow this has generated a certain a level of controversy.

A recent column in the Badger Herald by Adelaide Blanchard criticized The Post. The criticisms were unsubstantiated. The reality is that papers are struggling and it is just not that easy for a student newspaper to stay financially solvent. Blanchard suggested ideas such as a pay wall, but that is unrealistic.

The New York Times has struggled to make money with its pay wall system. College newspapers already struggle to have student pick up and read the print editions they give out for free.

The Clarion has received funding from the student body for over 20 years. None of us have ever felt any editorial pressure. The charter for the paper is clearly laid out that an editorial control lies with the students.

Most college newspapers could not survive with out some sort subsidy from the student body. If a paper is able to remain completely independent, then that is wonderful, but there is no shame in not being able to. We are here to inform and be the voice of the student body, but we are also here to learn. That fact cannot be forgotten. No one thinks it is wrong for the school to have computers for programmers or tools for the auto shop students.

Student papers are not the same as professional newspapers, but we try to be. We are still students, and we are still learning. The best way to learn journalism is to be part of a paper. If the only way to continue that learning is to have a subsidy, then so be it. That is perfectly acceptable and does not make you any less independent.