The stacks of daily New York Times newspapers might seem to be a permanent fixture around campus. But while students have come to take it for granted that the paper will always be available without charge, the considerable cost of this service has raised discussion about how it will be funded.
“The University is in the midst of a multi-year effort to cut spending in order to reduce annual reliance on the endowment,” said Dean of Student Services Mike Whaley. “As a consequence of this budget scenario, the Dean’s Office, along with the rest of the institution, is facing some serious budget issues.”
The University first took part in the readership program in January of 2000, joining approximately 30 other institutions involved in the initiative. At the time of its inception, the program provided not only The New York Times, but also USA Today and The Middletown Press. The program was entirely funded by the President’s Discretionary Fund, after the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) declined to contribute.
The program was temporarily suspended during the Fall 2000 semester when a campus poll suggested that newspaper readership had only slightly increased. Since being reinstated with The New York Times as the only paper, costs have been shared between the Dean of the College and the WSA, each providing $14,000 per semester.
“The value of the program has never been disputed, but difficult decisions about what we can afford to provide to students will continue as our operating budgets continue to shrink,” Whaley said.
According to WSA President Zach Kolodin ’07, funding for the readership program has been a year-long topic of discussion.
“I understand [the Dean of the College’s] budget crunch,” Kolodin said. “They have to cut between $30,000 and $70,000 every year from a budget that started out at like $700,000, and that’s really hard to do. When they don’t cut the readership program, they end up cutting other stuff like the Catholic Chaplain or Residential Life.”
Up until now, arrangements have been made to fund the program up until the fall of 2008.
“This year, the first year of our budget cuts, the cost-sharing arrangement is $12,000 from the Dean Of the College budget and $16,000 from the WSA,” Whaley said. “For next year, the cost-sharing arrangement will be $4,000 from the Dean Of the College budget, $6,000 from the Academic Affairs budget, and $18,000 from WSA.”
After failing to convince the Dean of the College to maintain the present level of funding, the WSA sought out other sources of revenue, including the Board of Trustees, Major Gifts, and University Relations. One possibility being discussed is the creation of a student fundraiser and donor-matching program, where each class would have a specific goal for percentage participation or total funds raised. For every class achieving its goal, a donor would then agree to support the readership program for a year.
“The donor program is just in the preliminary stages of discussion,” said Vice President of University Relations Barbara-Jan Wilson. “It’s not so much about an issue of donor dollars at the moment, but of getting students engaged. If the New York Times Readership Program is one way to do that, then it’s something that alums are willing to look into funding.”
Although not officially an item on the Board of Trustees agenda, the readership program has been brought to the Board’s attention.
“Though it would be very unusual for the Board as a whole to act on a line item in the University budget, individual members of the Board certainly have told us they see the virtues of the program, even as they recognize the need to reduce the overall growth in university spending,” said Vice President for Public Affairs Justin Harmon. “My expectation is that individual Board members may choose to respond to University Relation’s fund-raising effort, but that it is unlikely there will be a formal Board action regarding the program.”
Students remain strongly in favor of having newspapers on campus, but have mixed reactions about the potential changes to the program.
“It seems like there are other places in which budget cuts could be made,” said Amanda Sim ’08. “[The program is] something that people enjoy, and a big part of political activism on campus and discussions in psychology classes and government classes. Every time I walk by the newsstands on Friday, all of the papers are already gone.”
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable for students to pay a small amount, but it depends on what the cost will be,” said Meng Liu ’07. “Any fundraising project should also only target those students who read the Times. But I think that having the paper accessible is really important for student awareness of current affairs.”