For a while there in early November, it seemed like the weekly print version of the Daily Free Press might not survive. BU’s independent student-run paper announced that it was almost $70,000 in debt to its publisher, Turley Publications, and had less than eight weeks to come up with the money.

Two days later, the Freep had raised more than $17,000 in donations from about 300 alumni, professors, students, and friends through the crowdsourcing website GoFundMe. An additional $10,000 donation from Freep alum and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly (COM’75) and a $50,000 pledge from local car dealer and philanthropist Ernie Boch, Jr., got them over the hump.

Although the 44-year-old paper scaled back production of the print edition from four days a week to one day a week last May (it’s published daily online), debt continued to mount, and ad revenues continued a long, slow decline.

In fiscal year 1998, ad revenue was $504,027. In fiscal year 2008, it was $314,814. And in the fiscal year that ended August 31, 2014, it was just $101,565.

Kyle Plantz (COM’16), who was editor-in-chief in the fall, says contributions and posts on the GoFundMe page affirmed a lasting fondness for the Freep on the part of many alumni.

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Don Van Natta Jr. (COM’86) donated $300 and Bravo TV host Andy Cohen (COM’90) gave $250.

The most telling comment may have come from Melanie DeCarolis (CAS’92, COM’92), now a copy editor, who donated $75. “I tell everyone I didn’t major in journalism or English at BU; I majored in the Freep,” she wrote.

The GoFundMe page is officially closed, but the Daily Free Press is still accepting donations on its homepage through PayPal.