The NC State Student Senate is refusing to recommend a funding increase for Student Media. If Student Media’s fee request is rejected by the Board of Governors, both of NC State’s newspapers will be cut to publishing only six print issues per year starting next year.

Student Media appeared before the Student Senate to present our student fee request increase of $4.30 on Oct. 8, bringing the total fee to $30.55. The Senate failed the request with a vote of 23 affirmative, 34 negative and one abstention.

However, this is not the final step. Chancellor Kevin Howell will meet with the Student Senate and make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees, which will, in turn make a recommendation to the Board of Governors.

If Student Media’s fee request is rejected, NC State’s newspapers can no longer continue printing at the current rate, resulting in a cut in publishing.

The Nubian Message is deeply frustrated and disheartened by the idea of this change. Since 1992, we have been dedicated to serving Black and marginalized communities through journalism, and reducing our biweekly publishing to three issues per semester is not enough to fully serve our community.