Illinois student newspaper in debt, requesting funding from student fees

The Daily Illini is pleading for help.

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is $250,000 in debt to its printer, the Champaign News-Gazette, and taking new measures to stay afloat.

On Monday, the Daily Illini submitted a petition with 4,000 student signatures asking for student fees — $3 per student per semester — to help fund the paper, publisher Lil Levant said.

"The benefit of being (independent) … is that you don't have to worry about prior restraint," said Jill Disis, the Daily Illini's editor-in-chief.

When a student paper relies on its university for funding, it risks having administrators pull stories they don't approve of or donors pulling funds if or when the paper offends them, Disis said.

However, she doesn't think this is something the Daily Illini will have to worry about if its request for funding from student fees is accepted.

"I'm really not worried about the editorial independence of the paper," Disis said. "I really, strongly believe this is not the type of university that would (censor us)."

The Daily Illini has always been independent from UIUC. For 141 years, the paper has relied mainly on advertising sales and not on student fees. But in the spring semester of 2010, the Daily Illini stopped paying some staff reporters to save money. Now, only managerial positions and select staff reporters receive pay, Disis said.  

Like most student newspapers, readers pay no subscription fee for access to the Daily Illini, meaning revenue is even harder to come by than it is for most for-profit newspapers.

According to Levant, only 2,800 signatures were required, but the Daily Illini wanted to surpass this number by at least 20 percent. Because of an outpouring of student support, Levant said, they were able to go even beyond that.

In 2006, the Daily Illini's parent organization Illini Media used all of its financial reserves to build a four-story building in Campustown, a commercial district popular with UIUC students. The purpose of this new building was to house all University of Illinois media together to maximize efficiency.

A Jan. 19 letter was sent to UIUC alumni from award-winning film critic Roger Ebert, a former editor-in-chief at the Daily Illini who has been assisting the paper in fundraising. According to Ebert's letter, a new business plan put in place is supposed to get the Daily Illini back on track by the end of 2012, but the immediate debt they owe is still a pressing concern.

Levant was hired as the new Daily Illini publisher this year. She has been trying to raise money for the Daily Illini by consolidating the different UIUC media outlets onto two floors so the other two floors can be leased out. One tenant has already committed to renting the fourth floor and another has signed a letter of intent for the first, according to Ebert's letter.

Other money-saving methods the Daily Illini has implemented include budget cuts, the consolidation of paid staff positions and an advertising payment method based on commission to correlate with the success of the paper's performance.

According to an article in Crain's Chicago Business, Levant said students are working on a Daily Illini iPad app and are asking online readers with more than eight page views per month to think about donating.

"We had a great show of support from students," Levant said. "They've been involved and extremely supportive."

Levant said Ebert's letter was initially only intended to be sent to around 20 or 30 alumni "with the most capacity to give," but since it was made public and Crain's published an article about the situation, the fundraising has become much more successful. According to Levant, more than $14,000 was donated to Illini Media in the 24 hours after the article was published in Crain's.

"For over 100 years, Illini Media has been providing outstanding professional development for aspiring media professionals," Ebert wrote. "Many, including myself, would say that they owe their careers at least in part to their experience at Illini Media. It's now time to give back."

Disis said that she knows the next few years will be difficult for the Daily Illini, but she has faith in the newspaper that has trained her in journalism since she was a freshman.

"We're gonna make it work."

marenwestra@dailynebraskan.com