To our readers,
As journalists, it is our duty to keep ourselves out of the stories we write as much as possible. We have done our best work when an article carries no trace of the author beyond their byline, when we have presented as unbiased a view as possible on a situation.
It is a rare moment when we step out from behind the byline to address our readers, and a decision we do not take lightly. Given the position we find ourselves in at this moment in the history of student media at MCLA, we feel we have no choice but to speak to you, our readers, directly.
We are the editorial team behind The Beacon and Beacon Web News (BWN). Our team is Ainslie Lafko, Editor-in-Chief & President; Kate Zelkowitz, Executive Producer for BWN and Copy Editor & Vice President; Fallon Maloney, Secretary & Managing Editor; and Anna Najimy, Web Editor & Treasurer.
It is our honor and pleasure to be the driving force behind MCLA’s student news outlets, to serve our campus community, and to be the latest in a long legacy of student journalists who have been operating on campus since the first newspaper released in 1903.
In our role as the stewards of these organizations, we have made the exceedingly difficult decision to prepare The Beacon and BWN for an indefinite hiatus, or even permanent closure.
From the outside, this announcement may feel sudden. Internally, we as an editorial team have been facing mounting instability over the past year, within the Communications department and the institution at large, that have led us to this decision.
For those unaware, The Beacon and BWN are both student-owned and run. While we operate with a faculty advisor, Professor Darren Johnson, MCLA’s administration, faculty, and staff do not have control over what we publish, cover, or air. Our mission is to produce news by students, for students, about what students care about.
While being student-run allows us the freedom to be bold, to take risks, and to create the kind of news media we want to see, it comes with the responsibility of ensuring the organizations can thrive, year after year, as the powerful learning experience they have been for us and as quality news sources for our community.
While we have put the best of ourselves into The Beacon and BWN and have striven to make them great, we are not professionals. We are student-run. As students, we need the support of our institution.
As of the writing of this letter, we, the editors of The Beacon and BWN, no longer feel we are receiving adequate support from MCLA’s administration and, by extension, faculty and staff. We believe this lack of support is so devasting that MCLA’s student news media will not be able to survive into the fall 2025 semester.
As a result, we are choosing to shift our focus for the rest of this spring to archiving, preserving, and celebrating the work our organizations have produced over the years, rather than producing new content.
We are choosing to share the factors that have led us here in the hopes that our speaking out about these issues may facilitate positive change for the MCLA community and allow other institutions to learn from our experiences.
On January 24th, 2024, MCLA’s English and Communications, once a combined department, separated. English became a free-standing department, headed by Department Chair Zachary Finch, while Communications, led by Dr. Michael Birch, joined the Modern Languages and Interdisciplinary Studies department. While at the time of the split, students were assured that the change was purely administrative and would have no effect on the curriculum they were pursuing, our experience has been to the contrary.
We have experienced a significant reduction in the resources available to us, both as individual students and as an organization. The budget allocation for the operation of The Beacon and BWN has been dropping each year and repeated requests for repairs and upgrades to MCLA’s TV studio have been denied. As of the writing of this letter, the department budget for next semester does not contain a line item for the $1,500 fee required to keep our website, www.theonlinebeacon.com, live for the next year.
While we release print editions, The Beacon is now first and foremost a web newspaper with a primarily digital audience. Our website also distributes BWN’s episodes and is an essential element of many former staff member’s portfolios, illustrating their previously published work. Without a website, we can’t distribute.
Our shrinking budget also inhibits us pivoting to a solely print newspaper. Printing currently costs us $500-600 per edition, depending on pages and color, and will only get more expensive, as tariffs raise the cost of paper and aluminum plates.
We as the editorial team, and as students looking to pursue careers in communications, know that the future of news media is undeniably digital. It does a disservice to us and to future MCLA students to be unable to work in the digital space, when that is such an integral part of the modern journalism industry.
Without repairs or upgrades to the TV studio and video equipment, episodes of BWN are increasingly difficult to produce and riddled with glaring technical issues that render them unrepresentative of the effort that went into their production.
We have been informed of a plan to move the home base of the TV program to Murdock Hall. We are deeply concerned the move may reduce our resources further. If MCLA’s current Tri-caster system is moved, it will continue to degrade and become obsolete. If it is not moved, we lose access to a vital part of BWN production and a major draw for students looking to work in broadcast journalism. We have not been informed of any planned updates or improvements to our equipment.
We are also concerned that Murdock Hall’s infrastructure will not be able to support a TV studio. Earlier this semester, a heating coil in the building burst, flooding the basement and first floor levels. The leak caused significant damage to the building itself, as well as to items inside. The intended space for the new production space is directly adjacent to the flood zone. We worry that, as the 1897-built hall continues to age, similar incidents may occur, potentially damaging our equipment.
In addition to a reduction in financial resources, we are struggling to function with a lack of access to relevant faculty. At the beginning of the fall 2024 semester, communications classes were being taught by two full time faculty: Dr. Michael Birch and Professor Darren Johnson. On the evening of Friday, November 22nd, 2024, students enrolled in classes taught by Dr. Birch received email notifications from Dean Carolyn Dehner stating: “[D]ue to personal reasons, Professor Birch had to take an unexpected leave of absence effective today.” Since then, no MCLA communications student has had any communication with Dr. Birch, as he is reportedly on a scheduled, year-long sabbatical until spring 2026.
Dr. Birch was the major’s sole academic advisor. All communications majors are currently being advised by faculty from the Modern Languages facet of the department. Dr. Birch’s fall 2024 classes were finished under the instruction of Interdisciplinary Studies professor Dr. Hannah Haynes, who also has a communications background, but she is also on sabbatical this semester.
This semester, all communications courses are being taught by Professor Johnson, who is in “course overload”, responsible for five classes. In addition, he serves as the advisor to The Beacon, BWN, and WJJW, MCLA’s public radio station. His expertise as a journalism professional is essential to these organizations, but even he will be inaccessible at the end of the semester. Professor Johnson is a visiting professor, whose contract has not been renewed by the college for fall. As such, he will be leaving for a position at a new institution.
This complete lack of access to faculty with experience in our field for the fall semester puts The Beacon and BWN on tenuous footing. Our faculty advisor serves as a mentor, liaison, and advocate for our organizations. MCLA only listed a job posting for the position at the end of March; even if someone began immediately, there is an extremely limited amount of time left in the semester for the onboarding necessary to effectively assist us in the fall.
Having read the job posting, we feel it leaves the possibility of the incoming faculty member having no relevant newspaper or news broadcasting experience. As previously stated, it is Professor Johnson’s experience in journalism that makes him invaluable to The Beacon and BWN, serving as a mentor in addition to advisor. Professor Johnson repeatedly informed MCLA he would be interested in extending his contract and was willing to remain available to help onboard the incoming faculty. While it is relieving to see a job posting, we are left with no idea what sort of support we can expect to receive in the fall.
These lacking faculty and financial resources, truthfully, might be surmountable if we had a large enough student media staff to bridge the gap. MCLA’s critically low enrollment numbers (just below 900 students in fall 2024, according to the college’s official factbook) have made recruiting students to join difficult. We have discussed visiting local high schools and community colleges to recruit students to the communications program at MCLA but rejected the idea. It would be unethical to bring in new students when we do not feel comfortable making any promises of what they can expect.
We run on a skeleton crew; our entire student media conglomerate has a staff of only eight students. Of these eight students, two graduate this May, one plans to transfer to another institution for the fall, one graduates in fall 2025, and the rest are current juniors, set to graduate in spring 2026. With the current staff halving by the end of next semester and completely depleting within a year, we have been working hard to recruit underclassmen, without success.
Without a team or an experienced faculty advisor to create continuity between semesters and establish a workflow, these organizations cannot bridge the gap. Based on the information currently available to us, we the editors can see no future for The Beacon and BWN at MCLA.
In response, out of a deep love and appreciation for these organizations, we have committed to shift our primary goal for the rest of this semester to archiving previous work, keeping a publicly accessible record available, recording our workflow and operational guides, and otherwise preserving as much as possible. Our hope is to leave behind a framework and record for future generations of students to utilize—or even revive if institutional support improves in the future.
Just as we are for students, by students, about what students care about, we are taking on this archival project for students, as students ourselves. We invite the community to engage with us in dialogue as we navigate this process. We are reachable via email: [email protected].
A beacon is an apt metaphor for what we strive to make these organizations: a reliable, illuminating source that benefits the entire community. It has been emotional to watch the flame flicker. We are heartbroken to extinguish it. It is our sincere hope that our community understands how we have come to this decision and knows that we do not take it lightly for a moment.
We sincerely hope you will join us in celebrating the work of our student journalists, both currently on staff and all the many wonderful people who have come before, stretching all the way back to 1903.
To our alumni: your work has built the foundation on which we stand and is a legacy we are proud to be a part of. We have learned so much from you, a debt we cannot repay.
To our dear readers: your support is, and has always been, deeply felt and appreciated. We will carry it with us long after we have hung up the cap and gown and framed the diploma.
From the editors, on behalf of the entire Beacon and BWN student media team: thank you for watching, reading, and engaging. It has been our honor and pleasure to serve this community. It has been our honor and pleasure to serve you. Thank you.
Signed in sincerity,
The Editors of The Beacon & BWN,
Ainslie Lafko, Kate Zelkowitz, Fallon Maloney, & Anna Najimy
