Public not barred from students’ newspapers

Pitt’s Collegiate Readership Program provides quick, easy access for Pitt undergraduate… Pitt’s Collegiate Readership Program provides quick, easy access for Pitt undergraduate students to two national newspapers, both on campus and online. So easy, in fact, that the program does not stop non-students from picking up the papers.

Pitt’s Student Government Board implemented the Collegiate Readership Program this past February, and although the pick-up rate of the newspapers shows a positive reception, the open newsstands do not stop passers-by from picking up the newspaper.

The campus-side subscriptions to USA Today and The New York Times cost undergraduate non-College of General Studies students $30,500 per year, which comes out of the Student Activities Fund. Each student pays an $80 Student Activities Fee each semester into the fund. The copies of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette available on campus at some dorms are not affiliated with the Collegiate Readership Program.

SGB President Molly Stieber spoke in support of the Readership Program in September 2010 as a board member, when the Board approved the proposal to bring 300 printed copies each of USA Today and The New York Times to campus each business day.

Until recently, a paper stop sign taped on all seven newspaper stands that distribute the papers informed people that the copies are only for undergraduate students at Pitt. The sign did not specify that the newspapers are only for non-College of General Studies undergraduates.

On Tuesday, a man who doesn’t attend Pitt picked up a copy of USA Today from the Collegiate Readership Program’s newspaper stand in Posvar Hall.

The man, who declined to give his name, said he was unaware that the newspapers were only for non-College of General Studies students at Pitt.

“I have been [picking up the newspapers] for the past three years, and nobody’s ever said anything,” he said. The man has been picking up copies of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but now he’s adding USA Today and The Times to the newspapers he picks up from the stands.

On Tuesday, the stop sign was missing from a stand in Posvar, but the signs are still intact in the Litchfield Towers Lobby and the basement and ground floors of the William Pitt Union.

Stieber acknowledged that this is a problematic part of the system, but a solution likely will not come soon.

Stieber said that she will make a “hard recommendation” for the next Board to not only continue the program, but also to install boxes on which students would swipe their Pitt IDs to receive newspapers. These “swipers” will be able to tell which undergraduate students are not studying in CGS, in the same fashion that the ID swipers in residence halls can distinguish whether or not a student lives in a specific building.

Stieber said that it’s important that boxes are installed, especially in public places, so other people aren’t taking advantage of newspapers being paid for by non-CGS undergraduates. She said the boxes will be paid for and set up by the Readership Program.

Alex Zimmerman, an SGB member, provided statistics on the number of newspapers being picked up.

He said that 98.1 percent of all of the newspapers delivered to campus have been picked up since the program began in February of this year. Of this percentage, 31.47 percent of papers in the residence halls are picked up from newsstands.

SGB does not pay for the newspapers that aren’t picked up. None of the 4,500 copies of The New York Times delivered to Posvar since the program’s initiation have been left behind, and only eight of the 5,034 copies of USA Today have gone unpaid for.

However, the data does not indicate whether only undergraduate, non-CGS students are picking up the newspapers.

She would also like to see co-sponsorship take place in the future between those already paying for the program and students in Pitt’s graduate schools and College of General Studies.

Nicole Rehberg, a senior anthropology major, picked up a copy of USA Today in Posvar on Tuesday.

“If it’s free, then I figured I’d pick it up,” Rehberg said.

Ian Kenny, a psychology major, picked up a copy of The New York Times from the newspaper stand in Posvar on Monday.

“I know how much it costs for normal mortals to buy,” Kenny said.

Aaron Berner, an undeclared freshman, and Wesley Davis, a junior history major, could not include themselves in the group of students reading the newspapers.Davis said that he doesn’t read USA Today or The New York Times in print.

Berner said, “I picked one up a couple of days ago, and I didn’t read it, so I didn’t want to waste the paper. I can just read it online.”

Zimmerman and Stieber encourage students to subscribe to an online PDF provided by the newspapers, not to be confused with the subscription to The New York Times’ website.

Zimmerman said that since students have to log in to my.pitt.edu to subscribe to the PDF, which differentiates between non-CGS students and the rest of the student body.

Stieber said that about 600 students are signed up for the online replicas of the newspapers.

The Readership Program also gives Pitt an advantage in planning journalistic events. If a journalist from The New York Times is on tour in the area, Pitt is put to the top of that person’s priorities.

Stieber has emailed a number of event ideas to Kandace Rusnak, coordinator of The New York Times Readership Program, who will try to accommodate those ideas.

One journalistic event is guaranteed through the program per year, and that event has not happened yet at Pitt. The New York Times website says that journalists “can appear either in person or via Internet” through the readership program.

Stieber hopes that the new Board, to be elected in November and inaugurated in January, will continue to implement the Collegiate Readership Program at Pitt. She said there is “no reason why we shouldn’t contribute to this.”