Open letter to the LSESU Board of Trustees

We, former writers and editors of e Beaver and members of student newspapers from around the country are calling upon the London School of Economics Students’ Union (LSESU) to restore its annual grant to the Media Group.

We are deeply saddened and concerned to hear that starting next year, e Beaver will receive no secure, guaranteed nancial support from the LSESU as it has historically done so to expense its printing, website, and other essential costs.

Without the LSESU’s nancial support, e Beaver, an LSE institution since 1949inducted by George Bernard Shaw - faces the gravest threat to its existence since its founding.

e demise of e Beaver would be a great loss to the School. roughout its 74year history, e Beaver has unfailingly delivered in its core mission: to platform creativity, stimulate discussion, and report with rigour. Generations of student journalists at e Beaver have dedicated their time and e ort to provide a public service to the LSE community by freely and independently reporting on issues that concern Union members and providing a space for students to express their views. It is without question: e Beaver is an essential part of LSE.

It is the Union’s moral responsibility to make sure the student body is well-informed. In recent years, the paper has covered the ethnicity gap in student attainment, the lacklustre support for disabled students, and LSE’s mishandling of sexual assault cases. Without the Union’s nancial support, none of these stories would have been told.

Lastly, e Beaver has shaped many excellent journalists and other professionals. e opportunity for students to hone their writing, editing, and reporting skills is an integral part of a campus newspaper’s role. e paper teaches its newsroom to be curious and open-minded - qualities that serve its alumni well in life.

Losing e Beaver would be an immeasurable detriment to the LSE community, and student journalism as a whole. In view of these points, we believe it is vital that e Beaver continues to receive nancial support from the LSE Students’ Union. We therefore call on the Union to restore provisions in the bye-laws that guarantee secure

Alive and kicking

Ambre Pluta Flipside Editor

This might be the last time that I write for e Beaver. Because of a lack of funding from the SU, this issue might be the last time any student ever writes for e Beaver. In 1949, on ursday 5 of May, the paper was published for the very rst time. It has since seen many di erent covers, many di erent editors and many di erent sta writers. But the lesser-known truth, is that e Beaver started out as papers stuck on the walls of this university. All of this started out as ‘mural Beaver’ and most importantly, and always, as students ghting to get their voices heard. e Beaver has continuously provided a platform for students to ght for what they believe in. Students o en are twentysomething young adults,

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and consistent funding to e Beaver.

Signed,

Milo Dennison, Editor in Chief, e Oxford Student Famke Veenstra-Ashmore and Megan Byrom, Editorsin-Chief, Varsity

Nicole Wu, Editor-in-Chief, Palatinate

Ishaan Rahman, Editor-inChief, Roar News

Megan Ballantyne, Print Senior Editor, Exepose

Jamie John, Co-Editor-inChief, Felix Katie Bevan and Emilia Growney, Co-Editors-inChief, e Boar

Chloe Aslett, Editor-in-Chief, Forge Press

Alba Goskova, Editor-inChief, e Gryphon

Lucinda Dodd, Editor-inChief, Impact Magazine

Gair Rhydd, Cardi University

Liam Brown, Beaver Executive Editor (2012-13)

Dennis Mooney, Beaver Executive Editor (2013-14)

Jon Allsop, Beaver Executive Editor (2014-15)

Morgan Fairless, Beaver Executive Editor (2019-20) and Managing Editor (201819)

Angbeen Abbas, Beaver Executive Editor (2021-22)

Gustav Brincat, Beaver Managing Editor (2021-22) just starting out in life and over owing with eagerness to change things for the better. Without a newspaper, LSE students will be le voiceless. I have worked at e Beaver for the last three years on 14 issues with some of the most passionate people I know.

LSE students have published 926 issues over 74 years while e Beaver survived LSE’s turbulent history. It is not about to end now. e Beaver will not disappear. If we have to return to being papers stuck on the walls of this university, we will.

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Any opinions expressed herein are those of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the LSE Students’ Union or Beaver Editorial Sta . e Beaver is issued under a