By Gavin Mackintosh-
The Student Union of the prestigious London School of Economics are meeting urgently in a bid to save the closure of the student paper due to funding issues.
A petition has been made to call for a student union meeting to amend the bye-laws to guarantee sufficient funding, the shortage of which is threatening the continuity of the paper.
The petition received over 600 students “from current students and alumni that fondly remember the newspaper as an integral part of their student experience” and has not been forwarded to the LSE SU board of trustees.
Editors of The Beaver also intend to publish an open letter on behalf of ex-Beaver editors, LSE alumni, and other UK student publications to appeal for further support.
Funding has in the past been supported by alumni by the LSE Annual Fund, but the student paper which is one of the most active and ambitious university student media outlet in the Uk appears to be in trouble.
A source from the university’s alumni group anonymously told The Eye Of Media.Com that action is urgently needed to save the popular student paper, adding that ”nothing has been ruled out, not even crowdfunding” .
The Beaver, founded in 1949, will no longer receive any funding from the university’s student union from this September.
The funding has in the past been used to cover the costs of printing, managing the website and producing podcasts, as part of its available package on a weekly basis for student consumption.
The Beaver, like most student newspapers across the Uk, affords the school’s largely bright students the space to express their views and hold power to account within the university.
Overseen by a body of around 100 students, the paper conducts investigation on various matters relating to the university, and has in the past extended its journalistic endeavours to the realm of the political arena, also using podcasts to extend its voice.
If forced to close down, it will be an embarrassment to the reputable LSE and render its financial management to be inferior to other universities that do not face the same challenge and are sustaining their own student paper without funding issues
The London School Of Economics is one of the most reputable universities in the Uk, with competent lecturers, and is also rich in research. Its global online teaching courses covers 150 countries, and has proved useful in transforming the minds of its participants and enhances their career development.
It also has a foreign policy thinktank known as LSE IDEAS , which hosts interdisciplinary research projects, produces reports, and hosts off-the-record events, and bespoke training programmes for government, businesses and third-sector organisations.
LSE’s all round strong reputation generally trickles down to all aspects of the institution in terms of proficiency and organisation.
As an institution, LSE is itself independent of the student paper, but its rich heritage will make the closure of its paper look bad should it fold up due to funding issues, if no intervention is forthcoming soon.
The LSE Student Union was contacted for comment.