Funding was pulled Thursday for the Collegiate Readership Program, which provides free Monday through Friday issues of the Dallas Morning News, The New York Times, The Houston Chronicle and USA Today to A&M students on campus. This means the free newspapers will no longer be offered to students beginning with the spring 2005 semester.
“We initially approached the Student Service Fee Advisory Board (SSFAB) as a source of funding, then the academic colleges, along with numerous other sources; however, we were unsuccessful in those efforts,” said Chris Diem, executive vice president for the Student Government Association. “SGA is committed to this program and we will find a way to fund it.”
The Collegiate Readership Program is made possible through contracts with several national newspapers that provide the papers to universities at reduced prices. The Division of Student Affairs covers the costs of the program and provides papers to students at no charge.
Initially, the University’s vice president’s office had committed to funding the program for the entire academic year, but pulled funding following the recommendations of SSFAB.
“There was a perception that since SSFAB voted the proposal down 9-0, that students did not want the program,” Diem said. “However, after speaking with the board, (it was clear that) they just did not want it funded through student service fees, and that has been expressed to the vice president.”
Diem has scheduled a meeting with Vice President Bresciani to discuss retaining funding for the spring 2005 semester. The program has approximately 2,600 users every day.
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