Beginning today, students at the U will have several different options by which they may get their daily news. Traditionally, students at the U have been able to get their news from The Chronicle or by purchasing a local or national periodical. That may all change in the future.
This week, the Associated Students of the University of Utah will be conducting a pilot test on campus. Students will be given the opportunity to pick up a free copy of USA Today, The Deseret Morning News, The Salt Lake Tribune or The Financial Times.
The papers will be placed at various spots around campus and will be completely free. ASUU hopes to find out whether or not there is adequate interest among students on campus to make the availability of such periodicals permanent.
If enough of a demand exists on campus for the periodicals, ASUU will move to pass two bills through its Legislature. It is important to note that if the readership program is implemented permanently, there will be an increase in student fees. The increase in fees could range anywhere from $3 to $5.
The actions taken by ASUU should be applauded by students on campus. At a university, it is important to facilitate a well-educated and knowledgeable student body. By providing students with free access to newspapers, the U would be working toward such a goal.
Implementation of the program seems desirable even if it does require an increase in student fees. The costs fall well short of outweighing the benefits. It is not simply a matter of providing students with free news, it is in fact an extremely good bargain.
For a student to subscribe individually to even one of the periodicals to be offered, it would cost substantially more than $5 a semester, let alone subscribing to all of the periodicals simultaneously.
Hopefully, students will take advantage of the readership program. It is a great deal for all of those on campus interested in supplementing their learning with a knowledge about the local, national and international world around them.
Whatever one’s respective field might be, it is important that learning always be placed in a real-world context. It is difficult to do such if one remains ignorant about current events and news.
As we continually watch tuition and student fees increase over the years, any drop that is added to the seemingly unending waterfall of financial stress should be considered with great care. However, in the case of the readership program, such caution should be placed well at ease. Reading is good.
