Readership program expands to add summer distribution

By Gwen Daniels

Published Aug. 28, 2007

Students were able to pick up free newspapers this summer through the USA Today Collegiate Readership Program. In other years, papers were only available during the fall and winter semesters.

With the swipe of their ID card, students can receive daily newspapers without charge.

The program, now in its fifth year, offers the USA Today, the New York Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Columbia Missourian in campus hotspots such as Brady Commons, Memorial Union and residence halls.

The Missouri Students Association's Department of Student Services funds the program, DSS Director Jordan Paul said.

MSA plans to conduct student surveys every four years to determine which newspapers to offer.

MSA also determines where to add distribution locations and where to move locations to make the program more successful, MSA Vice President Andrew Cafourek said.

This summer, newspapers were available in five locations across campus.

"Because the program is hugely successful, we wanted to try out a trial run during the summer," Cafourek said.

MSA enlarged the program to reinforce MU's widespread circulation. MU is a frontrunner in circulation on the national level.

"We're one of the top-rated programs in the country," Paul said. "We're in the top five. We're extremely close to topping Nebraska."

Each student is charged a fee of $3, as part of his or her Student Activity Fee, to finance the program.

Freshman Pat Collins said the fee was fair.

"Since there's a selection of a few different newspapers, it's definitely worth three dollars. If you don't like the slant of a story, you can pick up another newspaper. If you get a newspaper more than once or twice, it pays for itself," he said.

The Student Activity Fee was not increased to fund the summer expansion.

Instead, a surplus of about $9,000 in the budget for the Collegiate Readership Program covered the cost, Cafourek said.

MSA will evaluate the success of the summer expansion in the coming month.

"We haven't had a chance to review because everyone just got back," Cafourek said.

The Collegiate Readership Program will offer newspapers throughout the school year and again next summer.