To see a video about the newspaper dilemma, click here.
Students accustomed to reading on-campus copies of USA Today, The New York Times and The Advocate will likely have trouble finding a copy of their favorite newspaper this year. Student Government President Colorado Robertson cut the supplemental funding to the newspaper initiatives account, which is part of the Readership Program on campus and otherwise funded by student fees. The SG Senate will vote Wednesday night to approve decreased circulation numbers, forced by the funding cut. Students voted in 2006 to supplement the newspaper initiatives account with a $1 fee per semester, which last year equaled $50,140. But the total cost for the number of papers supplied on campus last year was $87,561. “The other [$37,447] was supplemented from various places such as Student Government initiatives account, which is supposed to be used for one-time, large funding projects,” Robertson said. ” … I can’t justify spending money that wasn’t allocated to a program.”Coupled with the decrease in funding for the newspaper initiatives account is an increase in the cost of each paper. The New York Times increased its cost by 10 cents, and USA Today increased its cost by 15 cents. The newspaper initiatives account supplied 530 copies of The Advocate, 125 copies of the Financial Times, 500 copies of The New York Times and 400 copies of USA Today daily last year. Student senators formed a recommendation of how many copies of each paper to supply daily at the new budget of about $53,000 at the SG Summer Planning Committee meeting Aug. 6. The SPC decided on 250 copies of The New York Times and 225 copies of USA Today. The Advocate is funded by an exchange program, in which the University supplies The Advocate tickets to sporting events, and The Advocate offers the tickets as incentive for subscription.The University receives 2,000 copies of The Advocate through the program. But these supplied copies can not be distributed in certain areas, including residence halls and 459 Commons. The SPC will recommend 230 copies of The Advocate be distributed at dormitories and the 459 Commons. Student senators debated for more than an hour before deciding on the recommendations to send to the Student Senate, said Drew Prestridge, chairman of the SPC.”We want to keep the papers as much as we can, but cut what we can to keep within [the new] budget,” Prestridge said. Prestridge said the decisions were based on how many papers were not used each day and the cost of each paper. The new distribution numbers for each paper will be voted on by the Student Senate at Wednesday’s meeting, according to Robertson. “These are just our recommendations,” Robertson said. “If we want more papers on campus, the Senate has the ability to pass a student referendum, and we’ll send it to the students. If students want to put another dollar on this, we’ll put another dollar on it. If not, we’ll keep the number of papers we got. “The Financial Times will no longer be provided on campus. Because of delays in delivery service, editions of the Financial Times would only be provided the following day. Ryan Chenevert, accounting senior and president of the Business College Council, said business students are not interested in this service. “We’re not going to pursue the Financial Times because … no one wants yesterday’s news,” Chenevert said. An additional 50 copies were allocated for the Financial Times if the BCC chose to pursue that service. Chenevert said the BCC will likely request copies of Investor Business Daily. “Business students want the option of having a business newspaper they can look at,” Chenevert said. Chenevert said the 14 members of the BBC knew last year the Financial Times would have problems with delivery. Chenevert said more students were interested in receiving The Wall Street Journal and did not complain about the loss of the Financial Times. “I had my entire council talk to people in their classes … and the resounding opinion is that everyone wants the Wall Street Journal,” Chenevert said. “I’d rather have The Wall Street Journal than the Financial Times.”The University is trying to supply an online subscription of the Wall Street Journal costing $10 for students involved with organizations with the business college. “Students would be saving approximately $89,” Robertson said. “And that would give students an incentive to join organizations.”The Wall Street Journal discontinued partnership with the Readership Program because of conflict with receiving full advertising rates.Robertson said SG will be in Free Speech Alley for the Student Organizational Fair on Wednesday if students want to talk about the cuts.—-Contact Katie Kennedy at [email protected]