RABELAIS FACES SHUT DOWN AFTER 53 YEARS OF PUBLISHING STUDENT VOICES AT LA TROBE

Update: Thanks to the effort of La Trobe students, Rabelais will continue to operate in 2022. Read more.

This letter from the Editors is of dire importance, please read this article in full. Students at La Trobe must take action or Rabelais will shut down in 2022.

IMPORTANT

Rabelais is an office of the LTSU and is financially and procedurally dependent on its survival. In 2021, La Trobe University cut the LTSU's budget by 90%, directing a vast majority of the funding towards the LTSA. With the University's instalment of the LTSA, the LTSU - including Rabelais - may receive no funding in 2022.

Due to the 2021 funding cuts, Rabelais could no longer afford to publish physical editions. While we were able to successfully transition online, Rabelais will shut down if funding is cut further in 2022.

Students voted against the formation of the LTSA. The University created and funded it with your Student Services and Amenities Fees anyway. Only YOU, the students of La Trobe, can save Rabelais.

Rabelais has represented students’ voices for over 50 years. Providing budding journalists, reporters, and artists a place to publish their work, while giving students a source of La Trobe centric news, articles, and artworks. We want Rabelais to serve students for at least another 50 years. However, without funding, Rabelais will cease to exist.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SAVE RABELAIS

The LTSA is holding a Student General Meeting (SGM) on October the 8th at 10am. This meeting will decide whether the LTSA is shut down and whether funding is returned to the LTSU.

We implore all students at La Trobe to follow this link and sign up to join the fight. Tell your friends and tell your classmates - without student support Rabelais will not survive. By joining CHANGE's fight and voting to shut down the LTSA, you will help save Rabelais.

To our writers, contributors, and fellow Rabelais committee members

We’d like to thank you for your excellent work throughout the years; it has been a humbling experience running this student media outlet. Be it one article or seven, a poem or artwork, Art Director, Digital Director, or Chief of Staff, your dedication shows us that there will always be students willing to represent the voices of La Trobe. While it is regrettable to say that we may be the last Editors of Rabelais, we cherish the time that we have spent working alongside you and we are grateful for the opportunity of managing a student paper with a legacy of student advocacy.

In solidarity,
Leah Holden and Lewis Kimpton Drake
Chief Editors of Rabelais