Newspaper students hold ice cream fundraiser after Bethel University cuts support

Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
·2 min read

Students with Bethel University’s student newspaper are holding an ice cream fundraiser this weekend to help offset a recent reduction in school support.

Makenzi Johnson, editor of the Bethel Clarion, wrote in an online column last week that the university had slashed the newspaper’s budget by 25 percent, or $10,000. As a result, the Clarion would reduce print publication this year from eight issues to four while relying more heavily on its online presence and social media.

“Due to decreasing enrollment and increasing budget deficits, the Bethel administration cut the entire print budget of the Bethel Clarion student newspaper a few weeks before the school year started,” reads an open letter issued Friday by Johnson, managing editor Sarah Bakeman and faculty adviser Scott Winter.

“In order to print anything, Clarion staffers have worked with business classes to sell ads. The managing editor also works at Culver’s in Saint Anthony, and her manager offered to give $1 for every ‘Concrete Mixer’ sold (Friday) through Sunday to pay for Clarion print issues.”

A manager at the 4004 Silver Lake Road NE restaurant confirmed the fundraiser, noting that Bakeman had worked at two Culver’s locations over the course of four years.

Bethel sophomore Emily Hagen arrived at Culver’s Friday evening with six friends from her Bible study, eager to support the paper.

“It was on posters all around Bethel,” she said. “It was on Instagram. It is a big bummer. My roommate, it was her first year at the Clarion, and she was surprised.”

Robin Bloedow, a Culver’s assistant general manager, said business had been especially brisk for a Friday evening, and the fundraiser had drawn more customers than most.

“They’re coming out,” Bloedow said. “They’re saying, ‘This is for the Clarion.’”

Bethel spokesman Tim Hammer said the newspaper’s final budget cut was $5,000. Other student programming budgets were cut, too. As for the Clarion, he said, the mix of university funding and student-generated revenue “provides our students with real-world experience managing budgets, making editorial decisions, and engaging with businesses to offset the costs of publications.”

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