Readership program in jeopardy after loss of funds

The University of North Dakota Student Government is asking for help on funding issues facing the Collegiate Readership Program.

"Last year's presidential finance decided to reduce funding for the readership program so this year we're able to offer fewer newspapers," said UND Student Government Treasurer Sterling Wiggins.

Beyond the decrease in funding, the program is also facing some extra strain due to an increase in consumption of the papers. This is due to the fact that it's an election year, so students are more concerned with current events, but also that UND's overall enrollment has increased this year as well. While these are both positives in themselves, it poses a problem when there just aren't enough papers for everyone who wants one.

"The way the readership program works is that in order to spread the papers throughout the year, so we'll have papers every day, they're going to reduce the number of papers they bring each day," said Wiggins. "After the election, we're expecting a drop in overall consumption. USA Today has a formula they use. It's spread out during the year based on what the first two weeks consumption has been. The goal is to have newspapers the entire year, so the amount they put out will adjust based on consumption."

The Collegiate Readership Program is a service provided by USA Today to provide free newspapers to students at universities across the country. Student Government has sponsored the UND program for the last 3 years and the Association of Residence Halls (ARH) for a couple years prior to that. In addition to USA Today, UND's program distributes the Grand Forks Herald and the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune.

According to USA Today's program website, "The goal of the Collegiate Readership Program is to enhance the learning environment on campus, by exposing students to the news in their living, learning, and community spaces. The program is designed to promote civic literacy and global awareness on campus through students' daily exposure to the news."

The program has been around since 1997, originating at Pennsylvania State University and now serves almost 500 campuses across the United States.

A solution to the problem

Student Government is working on two separate approaches to solve the problem of not having enough papers to satisfy the demand while looking for ways to increase funding and minimize the need for more papers by recycling them.

"Right now we're seeking grants to increase the amount of money we'll have for the program," said Wiggins. Last year the program received a formal communications grant and the administration is fairly confident they'll be able to count on receiving it again. "We're also working with the Alumni Center to try to get alumni funding for the Readership Program."

"We're doing all we can to find funding, but there are a lot more students than there are of us," he continued. "So if any students have any ideas on better ways to fund the Readership Program or different outlets we can get funding from, feel free to contact us."

Wiggins also encourages students who take papers to leave them in a public area such as the tables in the Memorial Union when they're done rather than throwing them away. Student Government is currently working to get an organized recycling program in place with bins for used papers, so keep an eye out for these in the next few weeks.

To offer any suggestions or for more information on the Collegiate Readership Program, contact Student Government by calling 777-4377 or by e-mail at stugovpresident@mail.und.edu.