College Newspaper Loses Thousands in Funding After Publishing Negative Black Lives Matter Op-Ed

A private liberal arts college’s student government unanimously decided to slash its student newspaper budget following intense controversy over an op-ed that was critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The opinion piece published in the Wesleyan Argus on Sept. 14 was titled, “Why Black Lives Matter Isn’t What You Think.” Within a few days, according to the author of the piece, ”all hell broke loose.” Hundreds of copies of the student newspaper were destroyed, anonymous social media apps buzzed with negativity directed at the paper and the author, and a petition circulated the campus demanding that the paper be defunded.

On Sunday, the Wesleyan Student Assembly Senate voted 27 to 0, with four people abstaining, to pass a resolution cutting the Argus’ funding by more than half and redistributes that money to other campus publications for paid worker positions and digital innovation. That funding would be allocated through measuring online data analytics and the student body’s vote.

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