NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - The Daily Targum, the student-run newspaper that has been covering Rutgers for 150 years, will continue publishing during the 2019-20 school year.

However, Sandy Giacobbe, the paper's business manager, said on Friday that the newspaper will publish on a Monday-through-Thursday schedule instead of five days a week.

He also said the Daily Targum will feature enhanced digital content

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The Daily Targum was thrown into financial turmoil and its future was uncertain after editors failed to secure student funding this past spring.

Although The Daily Targum generates revenue through ads and support from alumni, it is mainly funded by students whose tuition included a refundable $11.25 fee. Not enough students voted to continue the student fee during a recent campus referendum.

Students are asked every three years to reaffirm their support. At least 25% of the student body must support the fee for Rutgers to keep charging students to support the newspaper.

Of the 23,996 eligible voters, only about 6,500 participated, or only 27 percent of the student body voted on the referendum. Of those, who cast a ballot, 4,400 voted in favor of the referendum. So even though 67 percent of those students who voted approved the referendum, it turns out to be only 18 percent of the entire student body.

News of the paper's possible demise spread throughout Targum alumni Facebook groups and other social media platforms. A grassroots effort to fund the paper, spearheaded by several alumni, soon started.





Plus, a gofundme page started by Targum editors raised $18,860.

Giaccobe said the money would be used toward upgrading the newspaper's computers and cameras.

Giaccobe told TAPinto New Brunswick in May that the 2017-18 operating budget was about $800,000. The biggest expense was the printing and distribution of10,000 copies each day, Monday through Friday.

Since the end of the spring semester, Targum reporters have kept busy. They covered the commencement ceremonies at HighPoint.com Stadium and President Robert Barchi's announcement that he would be stepping down after the next school year. Other reporters have been covering the football teams summer practices.