Find Love Together – Logan Briana

It’s been five days since the big news hit my alma mater. Budget cuts. Indiana Wesleyan University – Marion campus fired quite a few faculty and staff which will become effective December 31st of this year. With those cuts, both WIWU-TV and The Fortress (IWU’s tv and radio stations) will go off air as well on December 31st, 2019.

I work at the National and Global part of IWU, which is about a minute drive away from the Marion campus. National and Global focuses on the online and adult programs, where the Marion campus is the typical four-year undergrad university. In ways, they go hand in hand, but in the end, they are their own universities which have their own yearly budgets that they need to reach. So, as of right now, these budget cuts are only going to affect the Marion campus.

One reason why this huge budget cut has happened was that National and Global decided to stop helping Marion campus reach their budget. For years now, N&G has given the Marion campus money for them to reach their yearly budget. National and Global has decided to stop doing that so they don’t as well get themselves into a financial hole.

I don’t know all of the factors that went into deciding to cut the stations, but it is already having long-lasting effects. This week all I could feel was as if this dark cloud of gloom covered the campus. This week has been a week of mourning for so many people, such as employees, students, alumni, and the community. The cut has affected so many people. My social media has been flooded with people who are devastated to see the tv and radio station disappear. Seeing so many people post about their thoughts about the cuts and supporting each other and the stations (especially the tv station) gives a sense of hope in this dark time for IWU.

The aspect of the tv station that not everyone sees is how it connects the university with the community. It also allows the students (some who don’t even live in Indiana) to personally connect with the community. I have learned so much about Grant County from being a media communication major, which has now been altered because of these cuts. I now have a genuine love for Marion, because of WIWU-TV. Even while being on the roof of the football stadium (which look at me making it into the newspaper) I was able to connect with all kinds of people. When you work for the station, you meet all levels of IWU employees and students that you most likely wouldn’t have met without the station. You also get to meet all ranges of members of Grant County.

I have worked many of IWU’s beloved basketball games while being on the same camera each time. Most games there would be the same group of people surrounding my camera. We got to know each other, and if I had to miss a game for some reason, they were happy to welcome me back to the next game. The people surrounding me were people who were in their seventies and eighties who have lived in Marion most of their lives if not their entire lives. Most of whom also graduated from IWU when it was still known as Marion College. I had the privilege to have conversations with these precious people who I began to look forward to seeing each week. I wouldn’t have had that opportunity without the tv station.

Yes, the actual production things that so many people learn while working for both the tv and radio station is what has helped so many alumni land their jobs months after graduation. It’s the community that is built between each other and with those of Grant County that make these stations so vital to the university and its students. There are so many years of students who are forever connected because of the tv and radio station.

It is because of the radio station that my friend Bri met her fiancé who she gets to marry in a week. Some of my truest friends are because of the stations. For example, Bri. We are now best friends who wouldn’t haven’t even crossed paths if it wasn’t for the tv station. Fun fact: she wasn’t even a student at IWU when we truly connected. She would work certain productions for WIWU-TV which is where we bonded and discovered that we had quite a bit in common.

Both of the stations have changed so many people’s lives for the good and because of that, the decision to shut down both of them in December is heartbreaking. It means no more students will get this life-changing experience. I am proud of the many alumni that have posted on social media and stuck together to show how big of a mistake that they believe this is.

Maybe IWU will realize how big of an effect that these programs have and realize they help the university more than hurt it, but right now this is the reality. The staff and students are going into this last semester with these special programs with a saddened heart but a heart focused on making the best out of the situation.

None of us know what the future holds and that is terrifying, but it is all in God’s plan. I’m thankful that we have a staff who loves God, and even through this hardship, they put their faith in Him.

I am thankful for the family I made with those involved with both stations. I am thankful for what I have been taught by working for both WIWU-TV and The Fortress. I am one of many that have been changed for the better because of this special community IWU has provided for decades.