Red Ink magazine loses sponsor

The Breakup

The UA's American Indian Studies Department severs ties to 'Red Ink' magazine

By Mari HerrerasWhat is believed to be the only student-run Native American magazine in the country will no longer be part of the UA's American Indian Studies Department.

About six months after Red Ink magazine published its 20th anniversary issue, its managing editor received a notice on Tuesday, Aug. 2, that the department will no longer sponsor or oversee production of the magazine.

No one is more shocked by the decision than the magazine's managing editor, Joseph Quintana Ramirez, a UA grad student and member of the Santo Domingo Pueblo, who joined the Red Ink staff in 2009. The last time the Tucson Weekly talked to Ramirez, he and the other student volunteers were excited the anniversary issue was finally going to press after the students raised more than $5,000 to pay for production and promotion materials.

Ramirez says he was surprised to learn that the AIS Department had concerns about Red Ink, because they'd never come up in previous conversations. "People have said to me, 'You've got to have seen this coming,' but really I didn't."Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Journalism:  To Tell the Truth.