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Student Media Council

Student Media Council during a retreat

“Students have the unique perspective of being on the ground floor of the campus experience. The things students are prioritizing are always going to be to benefit their peers in the past and future, and never profits.”

-Olivia Loorz, Budget Committee Representative

Student Media Council (SMC) consists of student representatives from fourteen media organizations in print and broadcast. The representatives collectively provide leadership to Student Media and vote on all budgetary decisions with assistance from advisors within Student Media and SOMeCA. There are five distinct subcommittees managed and facilitated by students that prioritize diversity, strategic planning, and democratic budgeting.

Measure 50	Measure 34
Measure to Increase Student Voice	Sustaining the Student Media Voice
Created and passed by students to support the development of student media as a platform for expression, diversity, and authentic journalism. The measure serves the needs of the student body through leadership workshops, programming and development, state-of-the-art equipment, and professional training.	Funds a dedicated team of staff to support every aspect of student media operations. The positions funded by Measure 34 are both advisory and peer-to-peer. These positions ensure the lasting success of student media through equipment and software management, training, and expertise in organizational development.

“Without updated computers, the ability for us to complete any of our creative work was extremely limited. Software was outdated, systems were slow, and our productivity was very low. Having the ability to purchase new computers for the Press Center was extremely beneficial. All orgs across Student Media are able to hit the ground running again.”
-Viviana Raker, Student Media Broadcast Coordinator, On The Spot Executive Producer, Class of 2024

The community of Student Media is dedicated to preserving the expression of student voice and experience through journals, newspapers, films, and videos. Its success is made possible by funds contributed by the student body and the governance of student leaders.

Student representatives from media organizations in print and broadcast come together as Student Media Council (SMC) to collectively lead Student Media and steward the budgets of Measures 13/50 and 34. Subcommittees managed and facilitated by students prioritize diversity in media, strategic planning, and democratic budgeting.

The SMC provides an array of resources for student leaders to draw from. For example, to resolve the ethical and legal issues that arise in the production of their work, Student Media produces an annual workshop series to answer those questions in collaboration with a pro bono attorney. Additional workshops facilitated by successful alumni in the field equip students with the skills to navigate diversity and media as well as publication design.

Beyond working with media organizations, Student Media Council initiates pilot programs for the student body that change the atmosphere on our campus. For example, the council created “Radical Voices,” an event that has featured speakers such as Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, musician and activist Noname, and former NAACP Director of the Youth and College Division Tiffany Dena Loftin. Radical Voices has inspired hundreds of students to reflect critically on media’s role in dismantling misinformation, and becoming effective organizers and allies as media-makers and beyond.

188,665

Print Publications per year

40

Videos created by students per year

200

Unique student contributions to magazines annually

500

Students received technical, legal and financial support through Student Media Council

Future Planning

The SMC has established a multi-year budget to guarantee vital support and resources for the student voice for current and future students. An example of this investment is funding established to bring nationally-renowned media figures to UCSC to spark dialogue in the student body about issues they face and how students could work together to address those issues. Through programs like this, students can directly interact with mediamakers to gain insight into their own experiences.

Student Media is also responsible for the ongoing operations of the Student Media Press Center, which provides organizations with the space, technology and tools they need to produce groundbreaking work. Essential to this facility are professional video production equipment and computers powerful enough to handle the demands of intense video and print production. In order to keep Student Media organizations on the cutting edge, the SMC conserves funds over time to update and maintain this equipment on an established schedule.