March 26, 2026

    Board members in attendance: Levi Coovert, Connor Seuferling, Grace Harvey, Laney Kulman, Smith Slye, Savannah Madison, Kellen Pautzke, Samuel Chege, Richard Miller, Matt Haugen, Alison Boggs, Jennifer Ladwig, Emma Ledbetter, Tracy Milano, and Lorena O’English Staff: Denise Boyd 

    The board meeting was held online.
    Called to order at 4:26 p.m. by Lorena O’English, board chair. Minutes from Feb. 26 read and approved.

    Change in board membership

    Richard Miller announced that Candace Baltz has decided to leave the Student Media board. The board voted to add the Social Media Manager position to the board, and welcomed Libby Jones as a new member.

    Election of Summer/Fall 2026 Editor-in-Chief

    Presentations by candidates. 
    o    Ibrahim Daniel 
    o    Conner Orr
    o    Makani Pang
    o    Lucy Stutesman
    Board votes to elect Lucy Stutesman as the Summer/Fall 2026 Editor-in-Chief

    Reports: No reports given due to length of board meeting

    Adjournment: 5:50 p.m.
    Next meeting: Thursday, April 30
    Minutes taken by Denise Boyd

    February 26, 2026
    Board members in attendance: Lorena O’English, Richard Miller, Alison Boggs, Matt Haugen, Tracy Milano, Levi Coovert, Connor Seurferling, Libby Jones, Kellen Pautzke, Emma Ledbetter, Jennifer Ladwig. 
    The board meeting was held online.
    Called to order at 4:15 p.m. by Lorena O’English, board chair. Minutes from Jan. 29 read and approved.
    Reports
    Editor-in-Chief Levi Coovert
    • February was a good month for content, better than January.
    • News writers hired. They are eager but fresh.
    • There have been instances of plagiarism by new writers, one of which was caught by the copy chief prior to publication. This was likely due to misunderstandings.
    • There is now a beat reporter assigned to cover ASWSU.
    Question: Lorena O’English asked if there had been consideration to have a GPSA beat reporter. Levi responded no and Lorena suggested it be considered.
    • Happy with social media, recently switched enewsletter platforms.
    Question: Matthew Haugen asked about postings to unofficial sub-reddits and our policies regarding responses to comments. Levi said Libby will address. He feels we shouldn’t respond, perhaps unprofessional to do so. Would respond if concerns were addressed in an email or letter. What about misinformation? He hadn’t noticed but will deal with it if it happens.
    • Spring semester is well-staffed. Could use one or two more reporters for News but Life, Sports and Photo are solid.
    Design Manager Savannah Madison absent. Richard Miller reporting on her behalf
    • Not much to report. All going well.
    Social Media Manager Libby Jones
    • Switched newsletter platform from Mailchimp to Overlooked. Support staff is very responsive.
    • More presence on Facebook, Instagram and Reddit.
    • Newsletters at a steady three times a week.
    • Snow photos garnered over 900 Facebook likes
    • Women’s basketball video on Instagram
    • Wanting to increase YouTube videos 
    • Plan to work with Richard on creating a social media team
    • Matt Haugen offered to help, especially with new guidelines for posting and responding
    • Lucille Stutesman stated she was impressed with social media this semester
    • When asked if Libby knew of anyone to succeed her, Libby said Addison Suganuma or Talyn Bell. 
    Advertising Manager Richard Miller
    • Received approximately $5,000 in Planned Parenthood advertising, including online banners, pop-ups, newsletter and print.
    • Ad rate haves been revised, reducing rates for local print ads by about 40%, keeping national unchanged.
    • No bites on advertising in The Alley Cat yet, hoping to have something in mid-March
    • Dropping classifieds and religious directory from print next year. To date there have only been approximately $500 in sales.
    Question: Lucille Stutesman asked if there was any way to keep classifieds. Richard responded they require a design editor, and that position is going away. There is also no interest, even when offered for free, as has been done in the past. Tracy Milano spoke about the precipitous drop in classifieds once Craigslist began. Daily Evergreen would sometimes have two to three pages of classifieds. Now there are only two lost and found ad sections, which are free, and other occasional ones.
    Fiscal Specialist K. Denise Boyd absent. Richard Miller reporting on her behalf.
    • Estimated yearend is a surplus of roughly $425. Included in the budget is student travel to a conference.
    New business
    • Elections for the summer and fall Daily Evergreen Editor-in-Chief will be held at the March 26 meeting.
    Adjournment: 4:45 p.m.
    Next Meeting: Thursday, March 26
    Minutes taken by Tracy Milano
    January 29, 2026

    Board members in attendance: Lorena O’English, Richard Miller, Alison Boggs, Matt Haugen, Tracy Milano, Levi Coovert, Connor Seurferling, Libby Jones, Kellen Pautzke, Emma Ledbetter, Savannah Madison. Staff: Denise Boyd 

    The board meeting was held online.
    Called to order at 4:15 p.m. by Lorena O’English, board chair. Minutes from Nov. 20 read and approved.
    Comment: Lorena O’English: The Microsoft storage coverage was great.

    Reports

    Daily Evergreen Editor-in-Chief Levi Coovert
    •    December was slow with only one print day, and news and life section coverage down.
    •    Kody Christen is new co-news editor.
    •    Stories consisted of half sports and half non-sports. Looking to increase news.
    •    Sports writers are being asked to cover other sections.
    •    Libby Jones is now the Social Media Editor (Instagram, Facebook, enewsletter).
    •    Presented our request to the S&A committee, waiting to hear the results.
    Question: Lorena O’English
    Do you have analytics for the newsletter? Levi: Morning clicks are higher than at other times.
    Comment: Alison Boggs
    Appreciated the newsroom staff coming to my classes and pitching the idea of working for The Daily Evergreen. 
    Levi: We’ve had five new applicants and two of those were directly from the visits.
    Daily Evergreen Design Manager Savannah Madison
    •    Creating good covers for the newspaper
    •    Attending the newsroom meeting
     
    Daily Evergreen Advertising Manager Richard Miller
    •    Advertising sales have fallen off, with no display ads and few online ads for the start of the year.
    •    After consulting our ad agency, we plan on lowering cost of print ads by about 40%.

    Daily Evergreen Fiscal Specialist K Denise Boyd

    •    As of Dec. 31, 2025, our estimated yearend is a surplus of roughly $3,000, but with the decrease in advertising that will almost certainly decline. 
    New business

    Miller:
    •    Alley Cat summer orientation edition is 99% completed.
    •    It will be 24 to 30 pages depending on advertising sales.

    Lucy Stutesman:
    We should keep the Alley Cat available during the Week of Welcome. Miller: Possibly any extras could be placed on the extra shelf in our CUB racks.

    Alison Boggs: How often will the Alley Cat be published? Richard: Only once, this summer. We may look at continuing it depending on staffing.

    Public Comments:

    Eric Scott, WSU Vancouver:
    Thanked the board for allowing Adam Bates and himself to sit in on our board meeting

    Lucy Stutesman:
    The newsroom is doing a great job this semester Adjournment: 4:46 p.m.
    Next Meeting: Thursday, Feb. 26
    Minutes taken by Denise Boyd