Student Publications cuts funding for yearbook

Arizona Daily Wildcat Mark Woodhams, director of student publications

The Board of Student Publications, which oversees the Department of Student Publications, decided about six weeks ago that The Desert yearbook would not receive funding for the 1997-1998 academic year

Mark Woodhams, director of student publications, said the decision to cut funding for the yearbook came after the yearbook lost $182,000 during the last six years.

"It is a financial burden on other areas of the department," he said.

Woodhams said classified advertising sales from the Arizona Daily Wildcat made up for some of the deficit caused by declining yearbook sales.

Desert sales have declined from 1,216 books in 1994 to 994 last year. To date, about 700 pre-orders have been received for this year's edition, Desert Editor in Chief Valerie Miller said.

Woodhams said yearbook revenue losses have been a national trend for several years.

While yearbook funding has not been allotted within the new budget, The Desert yearbook will still exist, at least in name.

Woodhams explained that the board decided to eliminate funding, not to disband publication of the book.

Miller, a communications sophomore, said she is hopeful publication of the yearbook will continue in the future.

"If sales go up, then the book could be saved," Miller said.

"I don't think that this is the last book. I think that in five or 10 years, people will want to revive it."

Miller said she believes that the book is in trouble because of the size of the university and the type of product that is being produced.

"I think that when you are in high school you know everybody, you know what all of the clubs are," Miller said. "Here there are 300 organizations, not including sports teams. You don't even know that all of them exist, let alone what they do."

Woodhams had a similar explanation for the declining nationwide interest in college yearbooks.

"People have a hard time buying (a product) sight unseen. We are putting out a product students just don't want to buy," he said.

Woodhams has left the door open for the yearbook to be revived; however, he said funding is needed to continue publication.

"The ability of The Desert to publish without some sort of subsidy is highly unlikely. If there is a tremendous outpouring over this issue and the students demand that we have a yearbook then we will publish. But it hasn't happened yet, nor is it likely," Woodhams said.

Woodhams and Miller agreed that the passing of the yearbook may go unnoticed.

"People are constantly looking for older books. They just assume we're going to be there. And that's not the case," Miller said.