Pennsylvania State University: Board of Trustees Eliminates The Daily Collegian’s Financial Support

After The Daily Collegian at Pennsylvania State University—the school’s flagship independent student newspaper—received word in March 2023 that Penn State would reduce the paper’s traditional allocation of $425,000 to $200,000 for the 2023–24 academic year, the university’s Board of Trustees voted in July 2023 to completely defund the paper in 2024–25. Although the stated reason was Penn State’s budget deficit rather than displeasure with The Daily Collegian’s content, FIRE’s Student Press Freedom Initiative wrote the Board to object on July 28, 2023. SPFI reminded Penn State that funding decisions reflect values and that cutting all Collegian funding, while continuing to pay for things like private planes for university admins’ personal travel, runs wholly counter to the university’s claimed commitment to expressive freedoms.