Two Student Government committees held a rare joint meeting Wednesday night to discuss a bill that would increase the number of national newspapers on campus—but would also increase student fees.
According to Patrick Devore , a senior in meteorology and chair of the Tuition and Fees Committee, the bill was created after a sales representative from USA Today approached members of Student Government about buying into their Collegiate Readership Program.
“The pilot program entails them coming and setting up the non-lock box distribution points, the ones that are just in the residence halls, dining halls, and other semi-restricted areas that only students should be in,” Devore said. “The main thing this bill does is say ‘We like the idea and we want to do the pilot program.'”
However, Devore said while the pilot program is free, student fees would increase by up to $10 should the University decide to participate in the full program.
The bill passed through the Tuition and Fees committee neutrally—with no committee member actively supporting the bill—and will move on to the Student Senate early next week for a wider vote.
Emerson Barker, chair of the Academics committee and a junior in political science with a public policy concentration, said if the bill is approved by the Student Senate Wednesday, the trial program would begin soon. Participation in the full program, Barker said, will only happen if students respond well to this free trial program.
“[The bill] only authorizes the pilot program—it does not authorize the full program,” Barker said. “If the results of the pilot program were to return favorably, this bill states that we’ll look into [funding for the full program].”
While USA Today’s pilot program would survey students before and after the trial period, Barker said Student Government is looking into other potentially more reliable research options.
”The bill specifically states we can use other statistical data-gathering methods if we feel they’re necessary,” Barker said. “Personally, I do not trust a survey run by the company that is trying to sell me something.”
However, before a decision is made on the pilot program, Barker said it is important to think for the long term and decide if the University wants the full package.
“We really need to not only think about the logistics of the pilot program, but also whether or not we actually want to do the full program,” Barker said. “If we’re pretty sure we don’t want the full program, then there’s really no need to drag the pilot on.”
Devore said while he feels this program is interesting, it may be a luxury the University cannot afford at this time.
“We love the idea of this program. The problem is with the funding, with where we are economically at the University right now,” Devore said. “It’s an increase of up to $10 per year—five dollars per semester—on top of all of the other fees you have to pay now and will continue to pay, for a standing order of about 5 percent of the student population.”
For a university the size of N.C . State, which advertises enrollment numbers at more than 30,000, the program would cost the entire student body roughly between $150,000 and $300,000.
While both Devore and Barker said there have been discussions with other campus organizations to find partners in funding, no other organization has agreed to help offset this cost with their own funding.
But for Abbi Davis, a second year in livestock and poultry management at the Agricultural Institute and CALS Agricultural Institute Senator, this program may not be one of particular interest for the students she represents.
“I know my constituents, being in the Agricultural Institute, do not care about the newspaper. They may read the Technician, but the USA Today…they’re not going to pick up a USA Today and read it,” Davis said. “So I can’t support this because my constituents would not.”
According to Davis, while her constituents may not approve of this program—and its fee increase—the idea itself should not be thrown out completely for the future, as she said a smaller scale version may be of use to other colleges.
“I feel like this is a great program, but maybe this is a program better implemented within certain colleges. For example, I feel like CHASS would enjoy that,” Davis said. “That’s the kind of thing they have. They have the English Department, journalism minor, international relations—that kind of atmosphere—and I feel like the Poole College of Management would also be one of those. But CALS…maybe not.”
However, Barker said this isn’t currently possible. Even if a lower number of papers were requested, the entire student body would have to incur the fee.
“We can cut it down to fewer newspapers, but they still make it a fee for everybody,” Barker said. “That gives [USA Today] security in knowing that they’re going to get their money—one way or another.”
In light of this year’s tuition increases and the probability of another increase next year, Davis also said now may not be the time for a fee increase, even one that seems like a good deal.
“I don’t feel like students would be happy with this. Yeah, it’s $10, and if I were to get a newspaper every time it came out of the three editions they had it would benefit me because that’s a great deal. But, right now, the way things are happening, our tuition is not going to go down any time soon—it could increase, and more than likely will—so I feel students would not be okay with doubling our fees for this,” Davis said. “It’s another fee increase when you have fees increasing all the time.”
Although the USA Today Collegiate Readership Program presentation states one of the benefits of their program as being able to “reach over 90 percent of your student body every week,” Barker said even the USA Today representative claimed the actual readership number would be much lower.
According to Devore , while Student Government has had trouble gathering enough student comments on every issue—minus the Talley renovations—he hopes more students will use this as an opportunity to voice their opinions on the potential increase.
“We wanted to give students the opportunity to voice their opinion on the program—we don’t want to push this on students,” Devore said. “There are other fees on campus that do a similar thing, where everyone pays for something not everyone may choose to use. An example is the Carmichael fee. Everyone pays it, but not everyone chooses to use Carmichael,” Devore said. “We want to know if enough students will want to use this program to increase their fees.”
When asked how they thought the Student Senate would vote on the subject, both Barker and Devore said it will likely be a very close call.
“If this bill passes the Student Senate, it will be by a very close vote,” Barker said. “And not every senator may have a strong opinion on this issue, so if you want to comment on it, be sure to contact them or come to the Student Senate meeting.”
According to Barker, although space in the meeting room is saved specifically for students who want to attend and voice their opinions, it is rarely used—often proving to be a frustration for senators who may not know what their constituents think about an issue.
“There is a section of the room reserved for students who want to come and have their comments heard,” Barker said. “You have three minutes to tell the entire Student Senate what you think about this…or anything else for that matter.”
The Student Senate meeting will be held in room 314 in Harrelson Hall at 7:30 p.m . Barker and Devore both strongly encourage students to attend—even if they aren’t sure what their opinion is on the subject.
“We want to do what students want,” Devore said. “If you hate what we’re doing, tell us. If you don’t know what we’re doing, ask us.”
