The threatened Cerritos College newspaper will remain in print if enough students enroll in the class that produces it.
I reported Saturday that the 53-year-old Talon Marks would discontinue its print edition and only publish online.
Facing 15 percent class cutbacks across the board, administrators canceled the class that handles layout, design and other aspects of print production.
The classes that provide the reporting, writing and editing were to continue producing Web content.
The paper's faculty adviser and the Norwalk college's vice president for instruction hammered out an agreement Tuesday that put the newspaper production class back on the fall schedule. The Talon Marks should publish its usual 25 issues.
"I am very happy we were able to work out a compromise and keep the paper alive," said Rich Cameron, newspaper adviser.
The agreement doesn't guarantee the print edition will return. Students need to enroll in the class to keep it going.
"We are going to put it back on the books, but it is still going to have to have the minimum number of students," said Connie Mayfield, dean of fine arts.
Mayfield and Cameron said that as part of the compromise the Talon Marks would ramp up its Web presence in future semesters and gradually make online journalism an increasing priority. And the production and writing classes will likely be combined in the spring, something some other colleges do.
"It was just a matter of talking to them and asking why we are harming this program, and let's look for a solution," Cameron said. "I am grateful they were willing to look at some compromises."
Newspaper production will need to reach an enrollment of 15. Relatively small numbers in the newspaper production class -- about 12 last semester -- fell short of the college's goal of 20 students for most courses
In future semesters, the college plans to combine the newspaper production class with another course to reach enrollment targets, Cameron said.
Like most community colleges statewide, Cerritos is grappling with budget problems that are forcing it to trim courses with too few students, many of them general electives that transfer to four-year colleges.
But Talon Marks staffers past and present argued the issue was not just about enrollment in an academic class but the public service the paper provides to the campus.
Student editors of the 4,000-circulation weekly also said that it is an incorrect perception that college students get all of their campus news from the Web, as many pick up the paper as they walk around on campus and read it during meals and between classes.
The Talon Marks attracts $25,000 to $30,000 a year in advertising and receives $22,000 from the student government. But that revenue cannot be used to cover salary and benefits for journalism faculty, which left the journalism program vulnerable to the same cuts as all other departments.
