Editorial: IRA committee must invest in continuous community coverage | Opinion

Editor’s note: Daily Titan executives Jayden Lovelady and Sergio Gonzalez wrote and edited this article. Executive editors Sara Leon and Michelle King oversaw the writing and editing of the corresponding news article and did not contribute to the editorial.

Cal State Fullerton’s Instructionally Related Activities committee received a record 140 proposals from campus organizations, with the requests totaling 225% more than the available funds. 

Due to these dramatic disparities between what is needed and what is available to give, almost every campus organization got cut by 40%-60%. The exemption from this cut, however, is Titan Athletics, which is automatically allocated 36% of the total IRA fee under a 2010 student-approved referendum. The leftover funding then gets distributed across campus. 

As students, this referendum is completely understandable, as athletics needs a large sum to operate due to the necessary travel, facility and athlete upkeep expenses. As Daily Titan executives and student journalists, we must ethically beg the question of why the student press does not receive the same policy protection in being promised the paper’s needs be met. 

It is understood that by implementing the referendum into the IRA committee’s governance, Titan Athletics is placed into a certain separate category from the rest of campus organizations — but it is also argued that this is no indicator that campus prioritizes athletics over other academic organizations. This sentiment must be carried into investing in the community’s right to information that is not only accessible, but free for its readers. 

With the country in a news drought amidst continuous defunding on a national scale, the Daily Titan is one of two local news outlets in the city of Fullerton and the only source to thoroughly keep campus aware and accountable. 

The Daily Titan’s 2026-27 IRA award letter has been revised since first being released, having been raised from the initial $59,005 to $79,134. While this increase is not taken without a swell of gratitude and relief, the publication’s needs have been met reliably for the past three years only with an IRA award letter of $119,900. 

Through its lifetime, and pronouncedly in recent memory, the Daily Titan has covered topics like unexpected student deaths and a publication ban at city council, serving more than just the campus community. The 50-person staff and class of staff writers rotate through the newsroom throughout the week to cover stories mostly untold outside of the weekly 8 pages in the orange newsstands. 

In attending IRA-funded conference trips as representatives of the paper and the school, it has been a point of interest from almost every other student publication’s staff that we still publish a printed paper — a dying art form that is quickly becoming an anomaly. In the face of such financial attack on the press nationwide at all levels, CSUF must continuously invest in one of its most awarded exports that is so consistently in the public eye. 

Though incomparable in function and purpose, both athletics and student press are integral to the appeal of CSUF to incoming applicants, the community and, at times, the region of SoCal. CSUF’s baseball and softball programs have gained national recognition on multiple accounts, earning a reputation for turning out notable players, with the Daily Titan producing successful journalists with significant bylines.

Both Titan Athletics and student press organizations, including the Daily Titan, Tusk Magazine, and OC News, can service the campus as exports. They are a testament in the public eye to CSUF’s reputation of turning out competitive graduates, reflecting the ambitious spirit of Titan territory. 

Boasting a longtime storied history, CSUF baseball has seen recent prominence in appearing in the College Baseball World Series in 2015 and 2017. Softball has cemented itself as one of the premier programs on the West Coast. Ticket sales across all sports have also increased 46% over the past 14 years.

All around, the Titans have seen recognition not only on the big stages, but in the accolade column as well.  

The Titans’ baseball program has produced 72 Major League Baseball players. The men’s basketball team just had a breakout season, where Head Coach Dedrique Taylor was recognized as the Big West Coach of the Year. Cristina Jones of the women’s basketball team was named the Co-Big West Hustle Player of the Year, and women’s soccer player Isabella Cruz was named a nominee for the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year award.

The Daily Titan has historically proven just as reputable in the journalism landscape — turning out graduates straight from the newsroom in College Park into major publications such as the LA Times and USA Today, with many reaching professional newsrooms within a year of graduating, if not immediately. 

Just over a month ago, the Daily Titan brought home 16 awards from the Associated Collegiate Press conference — most notably a finalist plaque for an Online Pacemaker for best website. This places the student publication among the top 30 in the country, a pattern that has been consistently upheld throughout the past decade. 

Athletics serves as a cornerstone of both the community and campus. However, the Daily Titan has long served as the voice for not only the student body, but of the community surrounding CSUF. As executive editors to fellow student journalists, it is our duty to advocate for an ensured lifeline, for the promised continuation of community awareness. 

Jayden Lovelady, the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Titan, previously objectively reported on the 2026-27 IRA awards in a news article for the Daily Titan. This editorial was written after the publishing of the news article.