Readership program to start by Monday

With the third week of February fast approaching, some students are wondering if the Collegiate… With the third week of February fast approaching, some students are wondering if the Collegiate Readership Program, paid for by the Student Activities Fee and scheduled to start in late January, will ever find its place on campus.

Early last month, Student Government Board President Molly Stieber said that the readership program — which will bring 300 copies of both The New York Times and USA Today to campus on weekdays — would roll out sometime before February. This week, Stieber said she has received word from administrators that the program should be start by Monday.

“Everything is ready to go, but unfortunately we are still waiting for an approval from the University,” Stieber said. “Kenyon [Bonner] will let me know the moment the contract has been approved.”

Bonner, director of Student Life and associate dean of students, confirmed yesterday that Pitt is in the final stages of implementing the readership program and that the papers could hit stands as early as Monday. He added that the delays in starting the program are really just a part of the normal administrative process.

“Any time we enter into an agreement, we have to go through a routine to ratify it,” Bonner said. “The contract has to be reviewed and signed by different people on both ends. It’s a long administrative process that goes along with financial decisions at a large institution.”

Stieber said she has attended multiple meetings with Bonner concerning the program. She has also held numerous conference calls with the representatives from The New York Times and USA Today as well as meetings with the Computing Services and Systems Development office about the program.

CSSD is helping to organize student access to The New York Times and USA Today readers — electronic versions of the publications that will be available to all non-College of General Studies students through the readership program, which costs $30,500 from the Student Activities Fund. Each Pitt student pays $80 into the activities fund per semester.

CSSD plans to provide electronic reader access through the my.pitt.edu portal.

Stieber also said that the benefits that come with the program, including a kick-off event and guest speaker visits from The New York Times or USA Today, will be determined and announced once the contract has been approved.

The University appears to have taken at least preliminary steps toward implementing the program as distribution racks have popped up in the Union, Posvar Hall and Towers Lobby.

Stieber said she and University administration are addressing concerns that the racks currently set to hold the papers will not be able to insure that only non-CGS undergraduates will be able to take advantage of the program. She said the University has plans to eventually implement a swiper system that will only grant access to the appropriate students — those who paid into the Student Activities Fund.