However, there was no mention of getting rid of existing student and alumni outlets in an effort to fund the YMCA project (a concern of most students, given the increasing rise in tuitions) in an email to the UWT community:
"Funding for the University Y Student Center facility and associated programs is based on a new student fee that will begin when the facility opens in January 2015. UW Tacoma students will pay $180.00 per quarter, and the fee will include full membership to all eight of the YMCA facilities in Pierce and Kitsap Counties. The University Y Student Center will be open and available to all YMCA members, but the programs and services will focus on serving the UW Tacoma community. UW Tacoma faculty and staff will have an opportunity to join the YMCA and waive the joining fee."

As a Tacoma resident, and former Editor ofTahoma West., I believe the move to get rid of a long-standing arts publication to be a step in the wrong direction. Tacoma is a city that thrives on the arts, and doesn't believe that these things are simply "luxury items." We need a University that aligns with the belief that the arts are a way to move us forward as a community and as a city.

Get it together,University of Washington Tacoma. This is Tacoma, and we support the arts.