Issue date: 3/29/04 Section: News

Graphic by Ruben DeLuna/The Battalion

The four-week USA Today Collegiate Readership Program was an overall success, and the program will return to campus next year for a trial run beginning in the fall, said Chris Diem, a junior political science major and vice president of student services.

The program ran from Feb. 9 to March 5 and gave students the opportunity to pick up newspapers such as USA Today, The New York Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Bryan-College Station Eagle and The Dallas Morning News free of charge at different on-campus locations.

During the four-week program, 92,000 papers were distributed, with an average of 4,545 papers distributed per day, Diem said.

Six-hundred students were given a survey on March 23, and USA Today was the most widely-read newspaper among students with 59 percent of students reading it. The New York Times followed with 58 percent, The Houston Chronicle with 51 percent, The Dallas Morning News with 40 percent and The Bryan-College Station Eagle with 26 percent.

On the whole, the response was encouraging, Diem said. At the end of the program, 99 percent of the received surveys were positive.

Debra Blakely, a journalism professor, said she heard about the program from her students. Blakely said the response was positive because journalism students found the free papers an asset as they did homework for her course, which requires them to keep a media journal.

According to the survey, 96 percent of A&M students said it is important to read different newspapers to keep up with current news to enhance their education.

"Because of the success of the program, next year we are going to bring it back on a trial run basis for the entire year starting in the fall," Diem said.

The newspapers will be free to students, and the funding will be provided by the vice president for student affairs, Diem said.

"After that, we'll do another round of surveying just to make sure things are on track," Diem said.

If the program is begun on a permanent basis, students can expect to pay a $2.50 fee per semester, beginning in the 2005-06 school year, Diem said.

Student Body President Matt Josefy, a senior accounting major, said that during the run of the program, he always heard good remarks.

"I haven't gone a day without someone giving positive feed back on the readership program," Josefy said. "The program was a huge success and filled a niche on this campus."

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