Friday, November 16, 2001

TCU makes no decision on newspapers
By Erin LaMourie
Staff Reporter

Faculty, staff and students will not know whether they will be able to read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The New York Times and USA Today for free until early spring, said Don Mills, vice chancellor of student affairs.

If the program is implemented, students will be provided with the three newspapers on weekdays, Mills said.

Mills said the program will cost $40,000 to $50,000 each semester and it would cost TCU an average of about $5 each student. However, the money will come from the general tuition budget and will not cause an increase in tuition or fees.

The program will be compared to other priorities of the university’s budget before a final decision will be made, he said.

During the pilot program from Oct. 1 to Oct. 28, students picked up about 1,100 papers each day according to the Star-Telegram research department.

Mills said if TCU chooses to adopt the program, he hopes it will cause students to read and follow the news more.

“The overall goal of the program is to make students better informed about what is happening outside the TCU bubble,” Mills said. “We hope this will generate some interest among students to discuss issues among themselves, and faculty can also use the newspapers as a teaching tool.”

In a survey of 370 students conducted by the Star-Telegram, 45 percent of respondents said they read a newspaper more often during the pilot program and 62 percent said they would read a newspaper more often if TCU provided them.

Ryan Eloe, junior international economics major, said he started reading The New York Times during the pilot program and he would continue to read the newspaper if TCU made it available to him.

He said he thinks the program would be worth the cost because it would help increase his knowledge of current events.

Victoria Tschoepe, junior social work major, said she does not want tuition money to go toward the newspapers because most people probably would not read the newspapers.

“I rarely read the newspaper now,” Tschoepe said. “I would probably only read a paper once or twice a week, and maybe on Sundays even if they were provided.”

Mills said he was worried the newspapers would create more waste on the campus.
“One of my biggest concerns was whether it would create an additional workload for housekeepers and it did not,” he said. “People seem to be recycling their papers, so that did not cause a problem.”

Another potential problem was the effect the program may have on the TCU Daily Skiff, Mills said.

Bitsy Faulk, Skiff business manager, said she did not feel the newspapers would affect the Skiff’s advertising revenue because Skiff advertisements were aimed toward a specific college market, unlike advertisements in the other local and national newspapers.

Mills said he hopes TCU will be able to distribute the newspapers in all the main campus residence halls, Worth Hills Dining Hall, the Student Center and some of the academic buildings so students living off-campus would also be able to receive them.

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