One thing is for certain: WEIU-TV has affected the lives of the many that watch the broadcasts from the comfort of their home to the students who use it as a training ground to hone their skills to achieve their dreams.

And this much was apparent during the public forum on Thursday as support for the station was shown from alumni to current students on the power of the television station at Eastern.

Professor and WEIU-TV weather advisor Cameron Craig described a student from San Diego who is set to come to Eastern because of the opportunities that one can’t find at other institutions.

This much is also apparent from the countless alumni who have shown their support on Facebook.

Local alumnus J.C. Fultz at WAND-TV in Decatur expressed support for the program at Eastern.

In a video message posted to Eastern’s Facebook page, Fultz expounded on what WEIU meant (and still means) to him professionally and personally.

“The chance to do a real, live newscast five days a week on an actual over-the-air station, that’s just something you don’t get everywhere, especially at the college level,” Fultz said.

Being at WEIU allows you to do a little bit of everything, which Fultz emphasized is “resume material.”

Barbara Brosher, another alumna working at WTIU/WFIU in Indiana, urged President Glassman in her message to not participate in the spectrum auction, calling it a “wonderful resource” for students.

“And the true value of the program is the fact that it’s a daily, live, half-hour newscast,” Brosher said of NewsWatch, the award-winning newscast hosted and produced by students.

A group of fellow journalism students, our peers, reports, anchors, and produces NewsWatch five days a week, which is an amazing undertaking that should be noted considering how the students work while attending classes.

WEIU General Manager Jack Neal mentioned during the public forum that the newscast trains students and that it could continue, albeit differently should the station “do it without a transmitter.”

In the world of print journalism, a transmitter would be akin to our printing press.

With the news that The Daily Illini is moving to publish only twice a week, that leaves The Daily Eastern News and The Daily Northwestern as the only college newspapers in Illinois to publish five days a week.

We believe that the television station should remain wholly unchanged as we have.

We also believe that the benefits of the journalism facilities at Eastern made up of the television and radio stations as well as the student newspaper are an intangible training ground for aspiring journalists and that these training grounds should not be slashed in any way, shape, or form.

Katie Bird, an alumna at WREG in Memphis, Tenn, posted a photo to Eastern’s Facebook page that, boiled down, begs a simple question: “We are EIU. We are WEIU. We’re proud of where we came from. Are you proud of us?”