PULSE Magazine Faces Defunding

To whom it may concern, 

It has come to my attention that ASCWU intends to defund the publication of which I am employed, PULSE magazine, from our initial request of $28,412 down to $2,000 based on supposed violation of Killian Guidelines as was recorded in the S&A committee’s meeting minutes from March 14, 2025. This would greatly damage our ability to operate as we have in previous years and make it impossible to further serve our readers and the CWU community as a whole. In writing this statement, I intend to explain why it is essential for PULSE to receive our requested funding and urge those who hold the power to reject this defunding proposal do so by detailing the role that our publication plays in the CWU community and the many positive ways that it reflects on the university as a whole.

PULSE began as a blog in 2008 with the intention of capturing elements of student lifestyle on CWU campus. By 2011, the concept had evolved into that of a magazine style format, formally becoming PULSE magazine, a free lifestyle magazine published by students for students, which is the form it has taken ever since. It is true that PULSE magazine functions as a class to be taken by students at CWU, where they can learn and participate in the process of creating a professional magazine from scratch. However, this is far from PULSE’s only function, instead primarily serving as a method in which students and staff can connect with the wider community both on and off campus.

  Put quite simply, to defund PULSE is a form of censorship, silencing the voices of our diverse community and preventing their stories from reaching a larger audience. This goes far beyond tracking trends or providing students with easy reading material. PULSE has published hard journalism stories that raise awareness for readers, such as “Cats Fight Back Against Assault: 1 in 4 Women” and “Weighing The Workload: Are On-Campus Jobs Worth It?”, both of which were nationally recognized for their coverage of topics relating to assault and fair treatment of student employees. Were PULSE magazine not a printed publication, it is unlikely these stories would have been recognized or been able to inform the larger CWU population. People have a right to this information and they are reading, as evidenced by how well-received the Fall 2024 edition of the magazine was around campus, with few copies remaining in our possession for archive purposes– the rest were all taken to be read by students and staff alike.  

While it is true that PULSE is offered as a practicum course where students assume the roles of reporters, photographers and page designers who collaborate and receive credits for their work, this is not enough to produce the magazine as a whole. As mentioned, the publication is run by students for students and our dedicated leadership staff guides the process every step of the way. Our responsibilities are numerous and we are not selected by a professor. Rather, we volunteer with a staff advisor for these positions and are appointed by the Student Media Board after gaining several quarters of experience, with myself personally having served with PULSE for four quarters before attaining my current position. As Editor-In-Chief, I lead the class, mentor reporters, make final decisions on all material published in the magazine and edit every page. Though typically this is done with help, I edited all eighty pages of our Fall 2024 edition completely by myself and entirely within my own free time.This is important to note because no amount of class credits can compensate for the responsibility, dedication, work ethic and just plain hours put into this role. Simply put, paid salaries for those in leadership positions are essential to producing this level of professional work on top of our other responsibilities as college students, which does benefit CWU as a whole given the national recognition PULSE has received. 

Most notably, PULSE has been given great accolades by the Associate Collegiate Press, winning the Pacemaker Award in 2019 for Local Climate Change Reporting, which is the top collegiate award possible in the United States. Alongside that, “Weighing The Workload: Are On-Campus Jobs Worth It?” finished in eighth place for the ACP’s Feature Story award and “Ellensbirds” won first place for their Best Design category. Stories published in PULSE have also been recognized by groups such as the Society Of Professional Journalists, in which the magazine has both been a finalist and won first place for their Mark Of Excellence award as a whole publication and with individual stories. “Cats Fight Back Against Assault: 1 in 4 Women” was a finalist for this award and “The Faces Behind The Farms” won first place for it, both in 2023. Even now, PULSE is a finalist for the Best Ongoing Student magazine award from the Regional Mark Of Excellence. These are only some of the examples of ways in which our publication has been recognized..  Awards such as these reflect well on Central Washington University as a whole, speaking to the quality of our publication and Student Media Program, essentially acting as free publicity. These national recognitions and awards propel CWU’s standing and reputation in the collegiate media and journalism field at both a regional and national level. 

Finally, I will conclude with a personal anecdote about my time with PULSE magazine. I personally chose to attend CWU due to the reputation of its Student Media Program based on word of mouth and what I’d heard doing research, speaking to the outreach it has beyond campus. However, even then I was not yet sold on the idea of becoming a journalist. It was not until I served several quarters with PULSE producing quality stories that I was proud of and attended events such as the Associated Collegiate Press Conference, where I was given the opportunity to interact with professional journalists and have my work recognized on a national level, that I realized that journalism is what I was meant to do. If not for this opportunity, I don’t know who I would be or what track I would be on in life. I consider working for PULSE magazine to not only be my favorite thing that I’ve done at CWU but also the most invaluable to my education. I’ve learned skills I otherwise would not have, met and collaborated with talented people I otherwise would not have, been mentored by professionals I otherwise would not have, and chosen a career for myself that I can be proud of when otherwise I would not have. Gaining real experience as a reporter and editor has set me up for my career and life beyond college, and that is something that should not be taken for granted. 

I hope that in reading this testimonial, you come to understand the importance of PULSE magazine to the CWU community and its own staff and the method with which we operate, which would not be possible without our requested funding. I urge you to listen and continue to support Student Media as it provides a voice to Central Washington University students when otherwise, they may not have one. 

Sincerely,
Gunner Stuns, Editor-In-Chief