The Hawk

Issue date: 2/14/07 Section: News

Students are eager to grab a copy of the free New York Times.

It looks like The Hawk now has competition on campus. As of Monday, Feb. 5, the University Student Senate and The Living Learning program have joined powers to provide The New York Times for free around campus.

The New York Times Readership Program is being introduced to the school as a pilot program for six weeks free of charge. While Living Learning has always purchased daily copies of the Times that were placed in LaFarge to support their International Relations and Political Science Living Learning programs, the paper is now available in nine residence halls as well as Campion Student Center.

Todd Krug, Ph.D., Director of Living Learning, described the reasoning behind the free access to The New York Times as threefold. "Number one is the path to preeminence. A preeminent student body is one that needs to be informed. The second is academic rigor. We thought if students could go to class more informed of current events, they could have a more rigorous class discussion. The third is to teach students how to be life long learners. When you mesh them all together, it's the right thing for us to do," said Krug.

Though both the USS and the Living Learning program are prepared to fund this academic venture in the future, they alone cannot support the paper, which would cost upwards of $4000 a semester. Krug believes that both the Haub School of Business and the College of Arts and Sciences would be good places to go to look for funding. "If four or five groups come together, it's very possible to do," said Krug.

Students have given their approval of the paper being free and accessible to them on campus. Virtually all of the copies are gone by the end of each day.

"I think it's pretty cool. I've only been able to grab a copy once, but I think it's great since I can't afford a subscription myself," said Rachel Pawlikowski, '07.

Hearing about the success of The New York Times at Saint Joseph's, representatives from USA Today and The Philadelphia Inquirer have contacted the USS about implementing similar programs for their papers. The USS is still skeptical, however.

"We were offered USA Today and The Philadelphia Inquirer, but it's still too early to tell whether or not it would be beneficial to add those two papers to our campus. So far The New York Times has been wildly successful, so the Senate is definitely considering an expanded or diversified program," said Michael McDonald, '08, Student Body President.

Krug, however, has his doubts about USA Today. He said that the general sentiment towards that particular paper is that it doesn't have the same intellectual depth that the Times possesses.

A bonus of the Readership Program is that along with providing the papers, the Times will also provide journalists and staff to speak on campus on a variety of topics, Krug explained. Among the speakers are Frank Rich, The New York Times Magazine senior writer, and photographer Ruth Fremson.

Copies of the paper can be found in Campion Student Center, Bellermine, Barbelin, LaFarge, Sourin, McShain, Merion Gardens, Overbrook, Borgia and Rashford Halls.

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