05/22/2025
There are still a lot of questions I see floating around about what this decision means for The Observer, and so l’d like to take a few paragraphs and answer the most pressing ones. To address the decision, we were obviously pushing for and hoping for the complete overturning of the budget so we could go into immediate re-deliberations. But, they did not overturn the budget, and because of that we have officially been cut to near defunding.
However, the scare that started this entire process back in Spring Break was that these budgets would affect us for the next four years, and we didn’t know if The Observer could stay afloat for those four years until it could be re-deliberated. So although we have been nearly defunded, we now only face a year of budget uncertainty, and we are determined to and singularly focused on navigating the challenges that come.
That said, we are not out of the woods yet. Yes, The Observer is no longer at risk of shutting down completely, and that is a massive improvement from where we started. But we are still at risk of losing some of the aspects of our work that make us who we are.
With this next year of near defunding our staffing future is uncertain, and our printing future even more so.
Regardless of what happens next, it’s safe to say The Observer is going to be changing in the coming years, that was happening no matter what. But at the very least, there will still be an Observer, an Observer that will keep fighting to stay afloat as long as there are students running it.
