EDITORIAL – Vote “yes” on USA Today Readership program

For the past few months, The Pitt News has had company on newspaper racks scattered… For the past few months, The Pitt News has had company on newspaper racks scattered throughout the University.

We could be alone again, though, if the University decides that the amount of student votes on a referendum – which is currently open on my.pitt.edu – fails to express enough interest in renewing the USA Today Readership program.

Last winter, the Student Government Board implemented the first trial period for the program, which brought both USA Today and The New York Times to campus daily. This fall, the program entered a second trial period, which will expire if the University chooses not to subscribe to the program at a semesterly charge of $2.50 per student.

While $2.50 seems like a bargain for a semester-long subscription to the two national newspapers – each can go for hundreds of dollars for a year-long subscription – the margin of approval for the project was surprisingly low.

Only 58 percent of students who voted on the referendum said “yes” to the project. In part, the lack of approval for the project might reflect a low voter turnout for the referendum. Only 1,522 students – about one-tenth of the number of undergraduate students on campus –