Budget cuts shut down Calif. college newspaper.

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) -- Eighty years of chronicling life at Ventura College ended with May's final edition of the student-run campus newspaper, a victim of budget cuts.

"They hit us with no warning," Ventura College Press editor-in-chief Nathan Murillo said. "We tried everything we could to keep it open, but they never gave it a chance."

Community-college officials in March cut programs and personnel to close a $7.5 million budget gap and the Ventura College Press and the Oxnard College Campus Observer, along with journalism departments at the colleges, got the ax. Administrators cited low enrollment in journalism classes at both schools.

In response to protests, administrators crafted a plan to publish a single, districtwide newspaper based at Moorpark College next semester. It will carry stories from all three campuses, and students at Ventura and Oxnard will be offered some journalism courses.

"You couldn't pick any more politically charged program to cut," Chancellor James Meznek said. "I am probably just about as passionate about a free press as these students are. But I'm also as passionate as the chief executive officer for the district about my obligation to maintain and strengthen all programs."

Budget cuts have shut down several community college newspapers.

Earlier this year, the newspaper at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose ceased publication after the journalism program was eliminated because of low enrollment. In recent years, budget cuts have downsized or threatened journalism programs at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, De Anza College in Cupertino and West Valley College in Saratoga.