Student Senate and RHA Cut Free Campus Newspapers

Erin Fralick

Campus is cancelling the free USA Today and Fort Wayne-based The Journal Gazette newspapers for students. The Student Senate and Residence Hall Associations both voted almost unanimously to cease the campus-wide newsstands, saving almost $7,000 annually.

The money spent on the free daily newspapers will return to the Student Activities budget. The vast majority of the newspapers have remained in the newsstands, apparently unread and unappreciated. MU pays monthly for the newspaper distribution to campus.

Some students are unhappy with the decision. First-year Victoria Hupp of Ashland, Ohio, says she needs the papers for her classes. “The newspapers are a huge resource for me to get up-to-date news for my classes, such as International Studies or Model United Nations. 

“The removal of these will cause me to spend hours on the internet, searching. Sure, I can find news, but it's usually U.S.-focused. I know quite a few students in my International Studies class that read the paper every day. Some even ask to borrow mine.” 

Off campus, USA Today sells for $2 weekdays; The Journal Gazette is $1. The papers are not delivered to campus on weekends.

Sophomore Zander Willoughby of Wyoming, Michigan, and a member of the Student Senate, voted as a representative. “My position for or against the newspapers was to respect what I feel the general will of the student body is. Personally, I love having 'free' newspapers on campus, but I know that these papers come at a cost.”