2008 Woodie Awards
Student-funded papers being taken by faculty
Krystel Pakitsos & Doug Graham
Issue date: 10/18/07 Section: Front Page
Nearly a third of newspapers meant for PSU students and paid by PSU students are being taken by university faculty and staff, according to an informal survey conducted by the Collegio.
The survey was conducted during a two-hour period on Monday, Oct. 15, by Collegio staff members who observed three newspaper bins included in the Collegiate Readership Program. The program, which offers students a total of 605 copies of the Morning Sun, the Kansas City Star and USA Today each day, has been active on the PSU campus since 2004. USA Today, the Gannett Company's flagship national newspaper, administers it in conjunction with the Student Government Association. The program is popular among many college campuses throughout the U.S.
The availability of newspapers on campus through the program offers students easy access to a local, regional and national newspaper.
However, an SGA director says that the program is not meeting its intended goal if a third of the papers are picked up by faculty and staff.
"The majority of it is done independently - we just provide the funds and it gets done," said Jon Eastman, academic affairs director for SGA. "But if something like this happens and it comes to my attention, obviously it's something I need to do."
Eastman says that he was unaware of the issue until now, but he is firmly against the papers being available to faculty unless they start chipping in for the cost, which is about $30,000 a year.
"The idea behind it is to get college students to read the newspaper and find out what's going on ... and in doing so, prepare them to enter the working world where you're going to have to worry about this stuff on a daily basis," Eastman said. "Faculty members, they're already in the working world."
Mark Henshaw, a representative for the program from USA Today, spoke at the Student Government Association meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 26. When the subject of faculty taking the newspapers was brought up, the representative said that as far he knew, the problem was negligible on the PSU campus.
The survey was conducted during a two-hour period on Monday, Oct. 15, by Collegio staff members who observed three newspaper bins included in the Collegiate Readership Program. The program, which offers students a total of 605 copies of the Morning Sun, the Kansas City Star and USA Today each day, has been active on the PSU campus since 2004. USA Today, the Gannett Company's flagship national newspaper, administers it in conjunction with the Student Government Association. The program is popular among many college campuses throughout the U.S.
The availability of newspapers on campus through the program offers students easy access to a local, regional and national newspaper.
However, an SGA director says that the program is not meeting its intended goal if a third of the papers are picked up by faculty and staff.
"The majority of it is done independently - we just provide the funds and it gets done," said Jon Eastman, academic affairs director for SGA. "But if something like this happens and it comes to my attention, obviously it's something I need to do."
Eastman says that he was unaware of the issue until now, but he is firmly against the papers being available to faculty unless they start chipping in for the cost, which is about $30,000 a year.
"The idea behind it is to get college students to read the newspaper and find out what's going on ... and in doing so, prepare them to enter the working world where you're going to have to worry about this stuff on a daily basis," Eastman said. "Faculty members, they're already in the working world."
Mark Henshaw, a representative for the program from USA Today, spoke at the Student Government Association meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 26. When the subject of faculty taking the newspapers was brought up, the representative said that as far he knew, the problem was negligible on the PSU campus.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
gorillagirl
posted 10/19/07 @ 5:32 PM CST
I agree with Ed Wirthwein. People are becoming educated, so the program is meeting its goal.
This article says nothing about the supply and demand of the newspapers. (Continued…)
dewey cheatham
posted 2/10/08 @ 5:30 PM CST
Gannett has a USA Today Collegiate Readership Program that has been cleverly marketed to colleges and universities across the country as a way to enlighten our students and improve the journalism skills of the campus newspaper writers. (Continued…)
Post a Comment