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Free papers no longer
BY ELIZABETH ENKE
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
iISSUE: 78/26
YLER SWEENEY / STATESMAN
With the recent disappearance of the free newspapers that could be found around campus, students, faculty and staff have been asking where have all the papers gone? Recently three major newspapers were available at various places on campus. The free newspapers were distributed on behalf of Colligate Readership Program (CRP) and the Student Association (SA). SA President Thomas DeMinico explained that the CRP, sponsored by USA Today, is a program that gives students access to a daily assortment of local and national newspapers.
The program hopes to improve global awareness and civic engagement across college campuses. According to DeMinico, CRP was responsible for picking up and distributing the papers throughout campus, and they provided recycling receptacles to ensure that the campus stayed clean. They also kept tabs on the daily consumption of the newspapers.
For four weeks, the Star Tribune, the Duluth News Tribune and USA Today were available to the campus, at no cost. The free newspapers were part of a four-week test pilot that ended the week before spring break, according to DeMinico. “The intention was to provide students with newspapers and encourage outside discussion about global issues,” said DeMinico. “It’s a chance for students to become more aware of things going on in the world.” According to DeMinico, around 400 students took the survey before the newspapers were out. After the test period was over, another survey was conducted and 600 students participated.
Based on the results of the survey, DeMinico determined that having free newspapers on campus was a success. DeMinico notes that the SA will continue to work to bring back newspapers back permanently for next year. SA will have a tentative plan of bringing a slight increase to the student service fees next year, according to DeMinico. According to the UMD CRP handout, the cost summary states that the university can essentially budget as much as it would like for it [newspapers].
The actual cost is not known at this time, but, according to DeMinico, this would be a very slight increase. How much would students be willing to pay? According to the pre-newspaper survey, 87 percent of students surveyed said they would feel comfortable paying $4-7 of their student fees to the newspaper program. Senior Hana Eastman said that she didn’t pick up a newspaper. “I really didn’t have time to read it,” Eastman said. “I wasn’t going to pick it up if I was not going to use it. I don’t follow the news that much, but they are a good idea to keep students informed with the news.”
Freshman Amanda Speare, found the newspapers useful when they were available. “It was really nice to have, especially if you have time to kill between classes,” said Speare. “It was nice to have something of relevance to look at.” Not only students were happy to see the newspaper diversity around campus, but staff members were too. “Almost every day I felt like I tend to be out of touch with what’s happening in the media,” said Michael Gabler, a UMD education instructor. “It was really convenient to see three headlines at a glance.”
