Columbia to Grant Daily Spectator' Loan of $25,000

Columbia University agreed to grant The Daily Spectator a $25,000 loan to help offset a $40,000 debt which threatened to close the 96-year-old paper.

The Spectator will use the loan to help pay for new typesetting equipment. Under the terms of the loan, the paper will pay interest to the university in the form of free printing work worth $1000 per year for five years.

Still Short

The loan leaves The Spectator $16,000 short of the total amount of money it needs to pay off its debts. The additional amount stems from a four-year-old phone bill that the paper owes Columbia.

John Brecher, editor-in-chief of The Spectator, said that he has agreed to pay off the phone bill debt by late January with alumni contributions. So far, the paper has received $5000 from alumni.

"I don't knew what happens if we don's get money, Brecher said. "The question never came up."