As we begin a new academic year, we at the College Heights Herald and WKU Student Publications are entering an exciting time – the 2024-2025 academic year marks 100 years of WKU Student Publications. In 1924, the Talisman launched as the university’s yearbook, and on January 29, 1925, the first issue of the Herald hit newsstands.

This is such an exciting time for us and you, our audience. For a century, the Herald has been WKU’s independent, student-run news source. Those of us who work in the newsroom stand on the shoulders of a long line of alumni with storied careers. Not only have they fought for the freedom of our newsroom, but they have made a name for themselves as student journalists documenting the history of this university and telling compelling stories. Today we are honored and proud to continue that tradition.

While we hoped to enter our centennial year stronger than ever, budget cuts have made that harder than we had hoped it would be. The last several years have brought many changes in the Herald’s operations. In recent years, we’ve transitioned from a twice-weekly newspaper to today delivering news through a daily email newsletter.

Our print edition has since evolved into an enterprise news magazine published three times a semester. These magazines allow us to explore long-form stories in unique ways while providing an important learning experience for the student journalists who work in the newsroom. We published three strong issues last semester, and we were looking forward to doing so again this year.

Instead, like many other departments and academic units across campus, WKU Student Publications has been hit with severe budget cuts. While the university pays the salaries of Student Publications’ professional advisers, as well as utilities and upkeep of the Adams-Whitaker Student Publications Center – which the Herald, the Talisman and our alumni raised nearly $1.1 million to build – the Herald is financially independent from the university. We are funded completely by the revenue generated by our student colleagues who make up the stellar WKU Student Publications Advertising team. Yet, because of these budget cuts, Herald funds must be used to help Student Publications fill gaps where the university has taken away funding.

These budget cuts came after the Board of Regents approved the 2024-2025 budget, which instituted a new policy that takes 10% of all funds generated by the university’s auxiliary and revenue-dependent units. While this overhead charge has yet to be implemented, we have been preparing through economizing while absorbing costs from Student Publications, working to support our fellow students working on our sister publications.

Many students may not feel the harsher impacts of the budget cuts, but those of us at the Herald have. Because of these cuts, we made the difficult decision to only publish two print editions per semester this year. This means that this semester, there will be two print editions: the first published in October and the second in November, as always, just in time for homecoming.

This decision was a tough one to make. For those who work here, the Herald newsroom is the equivalent of a lab for STEM majors. We develop real-world skills that we will use every single day in our professional careers. We are able to learn in a safe environment before going out to professional newsrooms across the country.

Our print editions allow all of our journalists, photojournalists and graphic designers to develop a different set of skills that will be used in any newsroom they work in. Removing one of these issues takes away an opportunity for these skills to develop.

This decision has also been a difficult one for me personally, too. Since my first semester on the Hill in fall 2021, there has been a print edition of the Herald available on campus shortly after the semester began. As I stepped into the role of editor-in-chief of this publication that I love so much, I was greatly looking forward to welcoming my fellow Hilltoppers home to the Hill with a September print edition. Not having that opportunity for my senior years saddens me.

Just because budget cuts have required us to do away with one of our print editions, however, does not mean we will lower the quality of our work. A priority of mine since stepping into this new role has been to develop our online content to include more in-depth, long-form stories that previously have rarely been seen outside of print. This gives us an opportunity to renew our focus on this mission while continuing to serve the students of WKU and the WKU community first.

We are working on some exciting new ways to tell these stories, and we hope you’ll stay tuned as we navigate the opportunities this time is presenting us. While these changes have altered how we serve the WKU community, they will not affect our dedication to and passion for serving you.

I also hope that you’ll continue to open the Herald’s daily email newsletter. This is sent every weekday afternoon and gives you an easy, accessible way to see all the stories we’ve posted that day. If you’re not subscribed, you can sign up on our home page. We are always looking for ways to improve our newsletter, and you can anticipate seeing some changes throughout the semester. We are always looking for ways to improve your experience so we can better serve you.

Thank you for your continued support of the Herald’s work. I am honored to be serving in this new role, and I cannot wait to work with you. If you have any news tips, any questions about coverage or wish to apply to work with us, don’t hesitate to reach out to me personally. You can email me at [email protected] or at [email protected], and I will be sure to get back to you. I am also found quite easily on campus in the Commons or in my office in the Adams-Whitaker Student Publications Center, located next to Gary Ransdell Hall. Come see me and say hello!

As we enter our centennial year, we remain committed to serving you and producing quality content. We will be here for you as your primary breaking news source for events on campus while connecting you with each other and telling stories that matter to you. We’re committed to beginning our second century with just as much passion as ever, and we can’t wait to keep serving you!

Editor-in-Chief Price Wilborn can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @pricewilborn