For 122 years, The Vista printed at the University of Central Oklahoma. It was one of the oldest college newspapers in Oklahoma, beginning even before our statehood in 1903. In 2025, that legacy ended.
The first signs came in January. On the 29th, Mass Communication Chair Mike Breslin emailed Pro Media faculty and staff, “Starting in fall 2025, The Vista will move to a hybrid model, where it will still produce a print publication monthly, but all of its other outputs will be pushed out digitally.” Endowed Chair of Journalism Ethics and Professor, Joe Hight, asked whether there had been “an edict from above,” warning that the last time The Vista tried monthly print, it failed. Ending print “without due process,” he said, risked killing the paper entirely.
Around the same time, Facilities staff removed all 14 of The Vista’s racks from the Nigh Center, Old North and outside the newsroom. They were returned in March after Breslin demanded to know why they’d been taken.
The Vista editor at the time, Jake Ramsey, and his staff pushed back with letters of opposition. Faculty outside Mass Communication were alerted, including Dr. Leeda Copley, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Gerontology and SAS who emailed colleagues pleading, “The Vista, our cherished campus newspaper, is at risk of losing its print edition and being absorbed into UCentral’s online broadcast umbrella—effectively erasing its physical campus presence and independent voice.”
Following Breslin’s Jan. 29 email, Hight reconvened The Student Media Advisory Board that had been dormant for years. The board included five professors, including Vista advisor Erika Williams and interim board chair Joe Hight. Breslin deferred all Vista matters to the board. They were tasked with preparing a $56,000 budget for student media in 2025–26, which was $18,000 less than the previous year. The group researched peer institutions, sought feedback from media professionals, and conducted open meetings that drew student audiences.
On May 2, the board voted unanimously that The Vista would stay in print, publishing biweekly. Pickup data showed higher engagement than digital, and feedback from professionals indicated print experience remains essential in Oklahoma, where 155 newspapers still publish physical editions every week.
The approved budget was $28,200 for The Vista and $27,800 for UCentral TV and Radio.
Hight sent the decision to Dean Elizabeth Maier and Dr. Breslin, explaining that the board had researched thoroughly and reached a responsible plan to keep printing, while still rolling out a digital-first strategy.
Maier replied on May 5, asking only whether all advisers had approved the budget. They had. A month later, on June 10, she called another meeting, saying she believed The Vista should go fully digital by fall 2025. During the meeting she cited a regents’ efficiency policy and later wrote in an email on July 22 “This mandate has affected most units on campus. … With this efficiency mandate in mind, I stated The Vista would be produced digitally, rather than in print, starting in the fall 2025 semester.”
Although the shift was presented as a cost-saving move, the $6,000 previously used for printing was reallocated to student pay, leaving student media’s total budget unchanged. When donors from the Dennie Hall Endowment offered to cover the printing costs themselves, the administration declined.
Hight objected to the move, citing the board’s unanimous vote during the May 2nd meeting. Maier requested he contact the main funders of the Dennie Hall Endowment Fund.
When Hight reached out, both primary funders, Jim Epperson, a UCO alum and former AT&T Oklahoma–Texas president and Bob Ray, a UCO alum and retired Illinois Education Association communications director condemned the university’s plan. In their letter, they stressed “the intent of the endowment was to support The Vista and its operations in honor of Dennie Hall. That includes print and online, not one for the other.”
Despite that, on July 17, Maier emailed faculty asking how planning was going for a “Vista Going Digital Launch Party,” continuing, “I said I would pay for refreshments for the party.” When Hight replied that the board had not approved such a change, she responded: “There seems to be a misunderstanding. When we met in May, I said The Vista would be digital starting in fall 2025. It was a statement, not a request. That decision is final and not up for debate or negotiation.”
Two days earlier, on July 15, the President’s direct hand emerged when Facilities Director Kelly Vaughn emailed: “The President has requested the removal of all Vista racks on campus as The Vista is transitioning to a magazine published two to three times annually,” which Hight also pushed back on, saying the board had not made such a decision.
That same week, internal emails show administrators and advisers coordinating off-chain. On July 22, David Nelson emailed Maier, “all of us downstairs on the broadcast side are in support of the decision to move The Vista to a completely digital format in the fall.” He did not copy Hight, even though he replied to an ongoing group thread that included Hight and referenced him by name. Erika Williams, a part of the same thread, also emailed Maier privately to say, “Regardless of what the board votes, as the advisor, I will move forward with a digital operation starting this fall.” Maier replied, “You do not need to reply to the larger group.”
When the board met again on August 14, UCO students, alumni, and journalists filled the room.
After several attendees questioned the fairness of the plan to end print, the board agreed to adjust the budget. Erika Williams suggested taking the $6,000 set aside for printing and using it to instead pay student staff, claiming they could still learn layout through digital newsletters. The motion passed by a 5–1 vote.
Within weeks, alumni and journalists began writing editorials criticizing the decision. Dr. Terry Clark, former UCO Journalism chair, claimed in an editorial in the Oklahoma Observer “the obvious conclusion is that saving $12,000 was a convenient excuse, but not the truth.” Jim Epperson and Bob Ray also wrote a joint editorial in The Oklahoman, confirming they agreed to cover the printing costs, but were denied. “If saving $12,000 is not the real reason, then we have a much bigger problem.”
When asked about the decision to overrule the board’s May 2 budget approval, the reasoning for citing an efficiency mandate to end print despite records showing the printing funds stayed within the student media budget, and the administration’s refusal of the Dennie Hall Endowment’s offer to fund printing at no cost, university spokesperson Adrienne Nobles provided no specific clarity. She instead referred The Independent View to the university’s online statement regarding The Vista’s digital transition.
