Just when you thought the world was going crazy, The Collegiate Readership program is back. As of today, students will again have access to copies of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today on a daily basis. Distribution locations are at the Lauinger Library entrance, Red Square, and Sellinger Lounge.

The program is being funded by GUSA through a one-time allocation from now until the end of spring semester. It will be fully funded by the executive’s budget for the next academic year, according to a GUSA press release.

Today’s edition of The Washington Post has a pullout section on the NCAA tournament. Not bad.

One of the lesser-known inalienable rights

FUNDING REFORM – THE BIG ONE: On Sunday afternoon, GUSA passed a resolution threatening to withhold student activity fee funding from advisory boards, like SAC, that do not achieve six new reforms.

First, funding boards must reduce reserve accounts so that they do not exceed 10 percent of the board’s yearly allocation, and surplus funds must be rolled into the general Funding Board’s reserve account at the end of the year. Second, advisory boards must set up an appeals process for clubs who are denied funding. Third, clubs must have the option of lump sum funding for the year instead of funding event by event. Fourth, minutes of all meetings, including information on votes, must be made available online. Fifth, members of advisory boards must either be approved by the GUSA Senate or elected by club leaders. Sixth, clubs must be given reasonable control over the money they fundraise themselves.

“It seems harsh, but it’s a necessary thing to do,” said bill sponsor Nick Troiano (COL ’11—Village A, A-D). “Past negotiations have sometimes fallen through.”

The bill was passed unanimously with no contentious debate.

“This has been a long time coming,” Josh Mogil (SFS ’11—Off Campus) said. “I think it’s amazing.”

Mogil said this reform was different than club funding reform in the past because this time GUSA reached out to clubs to seek their input.

The Finance and Appropriations Committee based their recommendations on an e-mail survey to club leaders and responses from the Club Summit held on Saturday. The Club Summit was a chance for student leaders to voice their concerns about club funding. The leaders were mostly concerned about the tediousness of the process, their inability to keep funds that they fundraised, the lack of transparency in SAC leadership, and the number of events that are rejected or underfunded.

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After the demise of the free newspaper program early this year, student leaders have been pushing to bring the Washington Post back to campus, according to Will Cousino (SFS ’12) of Interhall. Cousino, GUSA Vice President Jason Kluger (MSB ’11) and Corp CFO Phil Goodman (SFS ’10), are still deciding between a new offer from the Washington Post, and older offers from USA Today‘s Collegiate Readership program and the New York Times.

The details of the Washington Post deal may change, according to Cousino, but as of earlier this week the Post was willing to provide 200 papers a day for a cost of $1200.

As Cousino said, it’s “pretty much the same offer as the Times. Difference being that the Washington Post can also deliver the New York Times (albeit at a high cost… more than $1 a copy).”

According to Kluger, the number of copies of the Post the Times that this deal would include has not yet been nailed down.

In addition to which papers to include, Kluger emphasized that distribution methods are a critical factor in the decision. The Post delivers their own papers, whereas USA Today hires a Georgetown student to put out the papers every morning.

“Also, there’s the question of physically what to put the papers in,” Kluger said. “The [containers] we had before, [which] you had to use your GOCard to get into, were part of the Collegiate Readership program. We have to see if we can still use them.”

The next step for the free newspaper movement is narrowing the three offers down to one, definitive deal. Kluger is eager to incorporate student input in the ultimate decision.

“Whatever our final choice comes down to, unless student feedback comes down really hard on one side or the other, we have a survey set up to get out in an email to the student body,” Kluger said.

The e-mail will be sent as soon as Cousino, Kluger, and Goodman narrow down their options, a process which could still take a few weeks.

Promising news for print journalism fans: although the Collegiate Readership Program, which provided free newspapers on campus, was suspended this year due to lack of funding, there are two replacement offers on the table.

Members of GUSA, the Corp, and Interhall have been working to restore free papers to campus. According to Will Cousino (SFS ’12) of Interhall, both options would provide roughly half as many papers as last year at about half the cost.

The first offer came from the New York Times and would include 200 copies of the Times and no other papers. USA Today, which sponsored last year’s program, also made an offer late last week that would include USA Today, the Washington Post and the Times.

Cousino and GUSA Vice President Jason Kluger (MSB ’11) will sit down next Monday to discuss which plan they, along with Corp CFO Phil Goodman (SFS ’10) and GUSA President Calen Angert (MSB ’11), would like to pursue.

Both offers are currently at $12,000, according to Angert and Kluger. But they’re hoping to haggle them down.

“We’d love to start a bidding war. That would be ideal,” Angert said.

“As for distribution locations, last year we had four and this year they would probably be reduced to three or two,” Cousino said. “The one we’re pretty sure we’d cut would be the site at Uncommon Grounds.”

USA Today collected data about how many papers were picked up at what location, according to Cousino. On average, 134 papers a day were picked up in Leo’s, 133 in Red Square, 105 in Alumni Square, and 88 at Uncommon Grounds, he said.

“Once we pick a program, all the focus will be on raising the funds to get it and keep it sustainable,” Kluger said.

Last year, the Collegiate Readership Program was sponsored by five organizations, donating $5,000 each. Those organizations were GUSA, the Corp, Interhall, the Senior Vice President’s Office, and the Provost’s Office.

The Corp and GUSA are the only confirmed sponsors of the free newspaper program so far, according to Angert. The students are also hoping to get funding from the Dean of the MSB, among other sources.

Photo by Sam Sweeney.

Survey Says…

GUSA has compiled the results of their “Omnibus Student Survey,” the summer survey which polled the student body on everything from GUSA’s structure, student diversity, and GUTS buses, to student safety, academics, and the free newspaper program and earned its chief organizer, GUSA President Calen Angert (MSB `11) high marks on the Angertometer.

Here’s what the 1,020 student respondents said, according to an email from Angert (because of a glitch with UIS, the are no breakdowns available for individual questions):

• 29 percent of students said they felt unrepresented by GUSA last year

• 77 percent of respondents rated GUSA’s student advocacy track record “poor” or were unsure of how they felt, but 20 percent approved of their past programming

• 66 percent felt that Georgetown is a diverse campus and the same number felt there is “sufficient programming, as organized by faculty and staff, on campus that engages students on the subject of diversity”

• Over 90 percent said they would support a continuation of Saturday GUTS bus routes and an expanded GUTS route to include a bus to a grocery store (GUSA recently accomplished the latter)

• 91 percent said they felt safe on campus, but two-thirds of respondents would like to see increased DPS patrols

• 92 percent agreed that “the university fosters an environment that is conducive to intellectual learning.”

• 89 percent said that they had read a free newspaper provided on campus by the Collegiate Readership Program that was recently suspended due to funding issues

After the jump, see all the results Angert provided in his e-mail!

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So long, Collegiate Readership Program…

Georgetown is no longer participating in the Collegiate Readership Program, which provides free copies of the New York Times, the Washington Post and USA Today on college campuses, due to inadequate funding, the Hoya reports.

The program was started at Georgetown in 2008 with $5,000 contributions from GUSA, Interhall, The Corp, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Senior Vice President to cover the $25,000 a year cost.

This February, then-president of Interhall Paul Biedlingmaier (COL ’11) told the Voice that “despite the recent economic events that have taken place, all five organization have continued their support of the program.”

Looks like that support wasn’t quite so solid, though. Current Interhall vice president for student advocacy Will Cousino (COL ’12) now tells the Hoya that the Provost, the Senior Vice President and Interhall all cut back on their contributions, leaving the program underfunded.

GUSA is still committed to the program, though, and is looking for ways to decrease costs and find other funding sources.

Photo by Sam Sweeney.

A year after GUSA Prez Ben Shaw and Veep Matt Appenfeller pledged to get free newspapers on campus and a month after the planned date for their Georgetown debut, the papers have finally arrived on campus. Sleek tan distribution boxes are now set up in Alumni Square and Red Square (and, supposedly outside Leo’s and in Leavey, though I haven’t seen these ones yet). Just slide in your GoCard, pull down the door and help yourself to as many New York Times, Washington Posts and USA Todays as your little heart desires.

The papers have come in the nick of time for Shaw, who told the Voice in January, “If the newspapers aren’t here by the third week of February, anyone who wants a Washington Post can come find me and I will buy it for them.” Nevertheless, props are in order for GUSA for finally accomplishing something substantive (and the Corp and, lest we forget, InterHall feat. Caitin Chen). I’ve got to say though, having free papers on campus isn’t as great as I thought it would be. I’ve become so accustomed to getting my news online that when I snagged a NY Times on Monday, it felt unweildly and a little bulky (and, unlike the constantly updated Times website, was missing any mention of prostitutes, New York governors or potentially unsafe sexual acts).

Though the program is run by USA Today, it seems like that’s the last paper people want to grab (see photo). (Maybe Obama was just trying to be nice when he called USA Today a “respectable paper”?) Judging from what I’ve seen, people also seem to prefer the Times above the Post.

The million dollar question, though, is whether or not the deal includes the Sunday Times. I’m guessing it doesn’t—this would be too good (and expensive) to be true—but until Sunday rolls around, I’m going to keep my fingers crossed anyway.

Photo by Sam Sweeney, Blog Editor

When Ben Shaw and Matt Appenfeller ran for president and vice-president of GUSA, their promise of free newspapers melted my heart. When I visited Holy Cross in high school, their stacks of New York Times and Washington Post newspapers were the most appealing thing about the college (that, and its football prowess). If GUSA could get us free newspapers, my regrets about not going to Holy Cross would be soothed.

The free newspaper idea is great for college students. We’re too busy to read every day, so a subscription would be a waste. But we also want to know things! Put a bunch of Posts inside Leo’s next to the college newspapers and watch the stigma of eating alone at Leo’s evaporate. Read the rest of this entry »