Campus May See Times, Boston Globe

The Undergraduate Council is exploring bringing major newspapers to campus through a program run by USA Today, UC representatives said at their meeting last night.

The company would provide three newspapers—likely USA Today, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times—to seven public locations on campus, including the Malkin Athletic Center, the Science Center, and the Quad.

The UC held a preliminary discussion on the initiative at their meeting yesterday, and are still researching whether the College would contribute to funding the program, which would cost $40,000 a year. Maia Usui ’11, a UC representative who has championed the program, said she hopes a trial will begin before winter break.

The newspaper program would likely cost $4 to $6 per student per year. Funding could come from the UC’s budget of student activities termbill fees, the College, or both.

“The ideal situation would be that we would be able to pay for this from other sources on campus,” Usui said.

USA Today currently provides newspapers to nearly 500 colleges across the country, including Cornell, where it is paid for by a separate student fee, and Dartmouth, where it is funded by the student government, according to Erin Maghran, USA Today’s manager for higher education programs.

Past attempts at bringing newspapers to campus have fizzled due to lack of permanent funding.

A fall 2007 pilot program that offered the New York Times in dining halls with support form the UC, House Committees, and Harvard University Dining Services, ended due to a dearth of funding. An earlier trial period failed to muster enough UC support for permanent financing when legislation was introduced in March 2007.

The Crimson took part in the the fall 2007 pilot, benefiting financially from a distribution contract.

Usui said USA Today’s program is particularly attractive because the company would run a four-week trial that would include student surveys to gauge interest. With that data, Usui said, the UC could make a stronger case for asking the College for funding, or for funding it themselves.

Some UC representatives raised questions at last night’s meeting about the program’s environmental impact and whether students even prefer reading a physical newspaper to the internet.

Maghran said at the meeting that USA Today would recycle extra newspapers and adjust the number of copies provided to meet student demand.

She said that paper newspapers remain important in encouraging reading.

“People who physically read newspapers read a lot more than online,” she said. “The internet complements the physical newspaper.”

Maghran said that USA Today would also handle delivery, signs, and ID card-readers that would restrict newspaper pick-up to Harvard students.

—Staff writer Alex M. McLeese can be reached at amcleese@fas.harvard.edu.