Yearbooks are a fantastic and tangible way to preserve memories. I still return from time to time to my high school yearbook to reminisce, and I see no reason why I wouldn’t do the same with a college yearbook.
People argue that Facebook can effectively replace a tangible yearbook, but for those interested in what a yearbook offers there is no comparison. A yearbook is beautiful, polished and professional, whereas Facebook tends to be much more informal, sparse and self-focused. While it is a great means for preserving memories, it does so in a much different manner than a yearbook.
Facebook cannot capture the completeness of the Whitman experience. While photos may summarize some or all of your particular experiences, there is so much more to this campus than that. While that party you went to or that sweet backpacking trip were incredible, so many of the most important memories of our time at college come at odd moments, unable to be captured in a single photo.
There is definitely student interest in a yearbook. As mentioned in last week’s Pioneer article, 76 percent of the responses to a survey on this issue supported Whitman adopting a yearbook. While surveys are not infallible, there is a clear interest among the student body for a yearbook of some kind. While you personally might not buy a yearbook, that should not means preclude the feasible existence of a yearbook on campus.
There was however, as the article mentioned, legitimate concern about the effects of leaving only 3,500 dollars left in the travel and student development fund for future student initiatives.
The first concern, that it would prohibit club sports from funding their regular activities, is irrelevant since they draw from an entirely separate fund. The second, and more valid, is that leaving so little money in the fund would prohibit student travel to various conferences, presentations and trainings. I do not believe, however, that this yearbook would be prohibitive to this end.
In February the deadline to withdraw from Whitman will pass, and travel and student development will see an increase in funds. Furthermore, the yearbook staff estimates that several thousand dollars should be raised from pre-sale which would go directly back into the fund. Although we shouldn’t count our chickens before they hatch, the reality is that money will come in which will alleviate some of the fiscal effects of the yearbook.
The yearbook fits all of the criteria for ASWC funding. It is a professionally-assembled student initiative which develops various skills in its producers and provides tangible benefits for hundreds of students. Although I have only served on ASWC for two full semesters, the yearbook certainly has the most direct benefits to the widest body of students of any proposal I have seen.
It spreads the benefits of the student fee out as widely as possible, costing only 60 dollars per benefited student. Compare this to other travel proposals, such as one passed last Sunday to send ten students to Washington D.C. for a model U.N. Conference. This cost 3,000 dollars, which costs 300 dollars per benefited student. You may not like subsidizing something you don’t use, but frankly, most of your student fee does just that.
People argue about this proposal taking away funding from other initiatives, but so does every other trip/project ASWC funds. A general philosophy of many in ASWC is to judge funding requests based on the merit of the request versus its cost rather than how much money it leaves us. I would prefer to see competition for these funds, which would promote a higher caliber of proposals.
ASWC has money to spend, so why not spend it on something that will benefit students for the rest of their lives, not to mention the benefits to the yearbook staff who have gained invaluable design, marketing and political experience? If you don’t want a yearbook then don’t buy one, but at least understand why people would want a yearbook, and why it is feasible to have one this year.
