On Aug. 31, the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) approved its operating budget for the 2017-18 year, which included a decision to cut funding to the yearbook completely.
The Raven was a project resumed last school year after a 36-year hiatus.
The decision to cut the funding was made due to the yearbook being “not the most popular item,” according to Gavin Resch, CUSA’s vice-president (finance).
In the 2015-16 year, CUSA made $16,180 off yearbook sales after budgeting for $25,000 in revenue. In the 2016-17 year, which also falls on Carleton’s 75th anniversary, CUSA projected revenue to be $35,000 for the yearbook, but fell short of its prediction and made $18,225 in sales.
Zameer Masjedee, CUSA’s president, said the yearbook was only brought back for Carleton’s milestone year.
“. . . That would be a legacy item that a lot of people could keep. The plan was always to re-evaluate at that point to see if it’s something we want to continue going forward,” Masjedee explained.
According to him, when CUSA evaluated the success of the yearbook, it found there wasn’t a “significant demand” from students.
Another reason funding was cut was due to the “amount of resources it took from CUSA’s communications department,” Resch said.
However, Masjedee noted that The Raven was self-sufficient because the cost of its production was mostly covered by sponsorships. According to CUSA’s budget, it used less than $50 of its own funds to cover the 2016-17 production of the yearbook.
According to Resch, the decision has sparked little to no backlash and he said he believes that students agree with it.
“I can’t argue with the results,” he said.
Resch added that it would take an overwhelming amount of people coming to CUSA for it to overturn the decision, and he doesn’t forsee that kind of response.
Sarah Nevins, a third-year global and international studies student, said she wasn’t familiar with The Raven.
“I didn’t even know there was a yearbook,” Nevins said.
Andrew Palombo, a third-year business student, expressed the same opinion, stating that he has “never seen the yearbook” before.
Still, Resch said that CUSA hopes to find innovative ways to commemorate students’ years at Carleton and the association is “exploring other ways to maintaining memories.”
Masjedee said cutting the yearbook was a difficult decision to make.
“I would have loved to have a yearbook my year graduating,” he said.
Masjedee added that the resources taken from producing The Raven will be spread across Carleton’s many clubs and initiatives. According to Resch, the money will be put to better use promoting CUSA’s service centres and creating bigger and better events for students.
“If we can take a little bit of time out of something that not very many people enjoyed and put it towards initiatives that we and the student body need, I don’t perceive that as a loss,” Resch said.
Photo by Meagan Casalino
