Students appreciative of the finer arts may have noticed copies of Sketch — ISU’s writing and arts journal — aren’t on display in racks around campus this semester.

While plans are in the works to raise money, the magazine is currently in debt and publication has been put on hold for this semester until the debt is eliminated, said Nicholos Wethington, undergraduate editor for Sketch.

“Sketch is a very unique thing,” said Wethington, senior in English and Daily staff writer. “It’s kind of sad. There are a lot of people who get excited about it.”

Sketch has existed since 1934 and accepts fiction writing, non-fiction writing, art and poetry from students of any major.

Normally, the magazine would have two issues out per year, one in the spring and one in the fall, distributing about 2,500 to 3,000 free copies at the beginning of each semester, Wethington said.

Problems started over a year ago, when the magazine’s publisher, Sigler Printing & Publishing, Inc., gave a higher bid to Sketch for the price of printing the journal, said Steve Pett, adviser to Writer’s Bloc, the umbrella organization that oversees the publication of Sketch.

“The bid given for printing was not what was eventually charged for the magazine,” he said.

Pett said this could have been due to publishing price inflation.

The Government of the Student Body, which funds Sketch entirely, froze the journal’s account in February with the understanding that Sketch would demonstrate the ability to pay back the debt before it could have access to its funds, Pett said.

“Whatever happened a year ago was an honest mistake,” Pett said. “It’s also right for the GSB to react the way they did.”

Normally, if an organization has a deficit in one area of spending, the organization could take money from other areas to accommodate the oversight, said Christiana Langenberg, Sketch adviser.

However, being funded by GSB, Sketch is allotted a certain amount of money for several areas of production such as publishing, postage and handling, said Langenberg. If one area does not use all of the money allotted to it, the extra money returns to GSB and cannot be used to fund other areas, she said.

“You can’t make up for deficits internally,” Langenberg said.

This means Sketch has to cover the $1,900 deficit on its own though donations, she said.

Sketch has already hosted two fund-raisers — a concert at the Boheme Bistro and a bake sale — which have raised approximately $500, Langenberg said.

Following these events, GSB has opened funds back to Sketch, Langenberg said. However, the group does not raise the rest of the money, they will be back to square one and its funds will be frozen again.

To raise the other $1,400, the organization plans to host an auction Dec. 7 and another bake sale Dec. 11. With these two opportunities, Langenberg said Sketch hopes to cover the debt by the end of the year.

Sheryl St. Germain, director of the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, said she is happy with the support people have shown Sketch and looks forward to the auction.

“People are donating items and donating themselves,” St. Germain said. “I sort of volunteered to have eggs thrown at me.”

St. Germain said with current budget cuts throughout the university, it is unrealistic to hope Sketch might gain help from the department of English or any other department.

“[The money] has to come from private donations,” she said. “It’s been a part of this institution for a long time … and would be a real blow if we lost this journal.”

Sketch representatives are making plans for a new issue, despite the budget problems, Wethington said. The deadline for submission of material to be published this spring is Nov. 14.