Tuesday, October 2, 2001

University considers newspaper program
By Erin LaMourie
Staff Reporter

Free copies of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, USA Today and The New York Times will be available in Moncrief Hall, Foster Hall, Moudy Building, Bass Building and the Student Center until Oct. 28 as a part of a pilot program exploring readership habits of students and the possibility of TCU providing free newspapers permanently, said Dolan Stidom, Circulation Operations Director for the Star Telegram.

During the four-week trial, the newspapers are provided at no cost to TCU, and if TCU does begin the program, they will only be charged for papers which are actually picked up, Stidom said.

Caleb Williams - Skiff Staff Tiffany Ameen, a freshman theater major, picks up her free copy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the Student Center Monday.

Stidom said Monday about 1,000 copies of the Star-Telegram, 800 to 900 of USA Today and 500 to 600 copies of The New York Times were available.

The Star-Telegram will continue to provide newspapers for the 338 students who have subscriptions, but students may find it more convenient to take a paper from the racks around campus, Stidom said.

Don Mills, vice chancellor of student affairs, said the idea for the program came from to TCU from USA Today.

“(USA Today) has a lot of research (indicating) that people are reading newspapers less and less,” Mills said. “They started a project at Penn State University where students were given options for free newspapers every day and faculty had begun to use them in classes.”

Mills said Penn State only had the newspapers available to students living in residence halls. He said he wants TCU to make the newspapers available to anyone on campus.

TCU students will no longer need to pay for individual subscriptions or use combinations to obtain their newspapers if the program is adopted by TCU, Stidom said.

Mills said if TCU participates in the program, it will not begin until the next school year because the budget will need to be decided.

The program will probably cost TCU about $40,000 to $45,000 for all three newspapers for the year and but it is undecided how TCU would fund the program, he said.

“If we did this permanently there would be a charge for newspapers not to the student directly, but to TCU,” Mills said.

In the third week of the trial offer, the Star-Telegram’s marketing department will survey students around campus about their opinions on the program and how often they have read a paper, Stidom said.

Mills said surveys can find out if people liked the program and if faculty saw any benefit from it, and then he would make a decision whether or not to make the program permanent.

“I am not as interested in percentage of readers (as the Star-Telegram is),” Mills said.

“I am more interested in our students finding this a worthwhile addition to their education ... I am also interested in whether the faculty see it as asset to their teaching.”

Kimberly Hopper, freshman speech communication major, said she is excited about the free newspapers because she reads The New York Times for class research papers.

“I live over in Worth Hills and I usually buy one every day at lunch.” she said. “I am not going to pay for the subscription though, so hopefully I will be able to get them for free.”

Stidom said a potential problem of the program is it may create waste but newspapers which are not picked up will be recycled by the Star-Telegram the next day. Recycle bins were placed near each of the distribution racks to encourage students to recycle the newspapers they read, which may create a way for the university to earn additional money, he said.

Mills said he wanted to see how providing free newspapers to students will affect readership of the TCU Daily Skiff and funds for the Society of Professional Journalists, which earns funds from Star-Telegram subscriptions.

“The point of this is to enhance, not to put any existing paper like the Skiff or organization like the Society of Professional Journalists at any kind of disadvantage.”

Aaron Chimbel, senior broadcast journalism major and president of SPJ, said the chapter earned about $2,100 from Star-Telegram subscriptions last year and this year over 70 percent of the subscription price, $10 of the $14, went to SPJ.

“We would need to find some other means of fundraiser,” Chimbel said. “Without that money, we would not be able to operate as a chapter.”

Erin LaMourie
e.m.lamourie@student.tcu.edu