IU, Ball State journalism alumni hold fundraising competition ahead of football matchup
The IU Hoosiers and the Ball State Cardinals may be settling scores at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis this weekend, but another rivalry is playing out at the Indiana Daily Student and the Ball State Daily.
Both student news organizations provide their respective fans with great coverage of their campuses, and their reporters compete for statewide bragging rights, journalism jobs and more. Now, both schools are upping their rivalry with a friendly fundraising competition.
The IU Student Publications Alumni Association is spearheading a crowdfunding campaign for the IDS Legacy Fund, while Ball State alumni are raising money for the school’s journalism department. The school that raises the most money by the time the Hoosiers and Cardinals kick off at noon Saturday will win eternal bragging rights.
Plus, the loser will buy an ad in the winner’s newspaper.
Ball State University alumnus Tom Gayda proposed the competition to bring attention to the departments.
“I have a lot of friends that did journalism at IU,” Gayda said. “I thought it would be fun to make a challenge of some sort.”
All week, alumni and friends of the two programs will encourage people to donate online using the hashtags #crimsonvscardinals and #cardinalsvscrimson.
IU supporters can donate to the legacy fund through its Fundly campaign page. Ball State supporters can visit BSU’s online fundraising portal, select “Other” as the fund and type in the Journalism account number: 4901.
The IDS Legacy Fund was created to raise support for editorial operations at IU student publications, including the IDS and Arbutus yearbook. The funds support training opportunities for student journalists and travel expenses for coverage of major events, such as national athletic championships and political conventions.
“Creating the IDS Legacy Fund is something we are really proud of,” said IU Student Publications Alumni Association president Charlie Scudder, BAJ’14.
The tax-deductible donation will carry forward the decades-long tradition of excellence in student media at IU.
If the competing news outlets can agree on anything, it’s that this will be a win-win for both universities.