A little more than a month has passed since the University of Idaho placed the free newspapers provided by the Readership Program behind the information desk in the Idaho Commons and Student Union Building.
Photo illustration by Hayden Crosby | Argonaut
University of Idaho student Jasmine Boyd picks up a copy of USA Today in the Student Union Building Thursday.
Colleen Quinn, UI Director of Student Involvement, said since the move there has been a decrease in the amount of newspapers that are taken. Before placing the newspapers behind the desk, 60 papers were usually taken every day in the Commons. That number has now dropped to an average of 22.
Quinn said this drop most likely means faculty and other people who did not have a Vandal Card were using the free newspapers more than students.
Despite the overall decrease in the number of papers being picked up reported by Quinn, Peter DeVries, education manager for The New York Times, said they have not seen a decrease in the number of The New York Times’ papers taken on UI’s campus.
A returns report of The New York Times — gathered by an outside independent third party — showed the percentage of papers being taken from UI averaged between 90 to 92 percent from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4.
DeVries said this is basically the same statistic as there was before the newspapers were put behind the desk in the Commons and SUB.
Quinn said there are probably less people who grab the USA Today or the Spokesman-Review than The New York Times.
“The academic value of The Times goes way beyond the daily news,” DeVries said.
As a way to help students benefit from all The New York Times offers, DeVries said they have created academic passes. These passes allow students 24-hour access to The New York Times online, he said.
UI students simply have to go to The New York Times’ website and type in their Vandal Mail address, and they will have unlimited access to The New York Times online, which includes a160-year archive.
DeVries said the academic passes were created in September because they realized many students prefer to read online.
Right now, schools are provided with the same amount of academic passes as the number of print papers they buy, so UI has 140 passes.
“Reading newspapers is essential to being well informed about what’s going on,” said Kenton Bird, director of the UI School of Journalism and Mass Media.
Bird said he is concerned putting the newspapers behind the desks is a disincentive for students to pick them up.
Quinn said putting the papers behind the desks is the only major change in the Readership Program right now, but she said they are assessing the value of the program.
She said the program has been running for a while, and is funded using $32,000 of student fees.
“We are trying to be smart with the money,” she said. “And want students to reap the awards.”
To help assess the program, Quinn said they are asking people about the program in the ASUI ballots that open on Nov. 12.
She said she believes it is important for students to read newspapers, but does not know if having the information available in print is the way they get the news.
Allison Griffith can be reached at arg-news.uidaho.edu