Students to vote to keep newspapers in the dorms

By Jamie Hsiung
Daily Bruin Reporter

Newspapers like USA Today and the Wall Street Journal may become
permanent fixtures in the resident halls.

The On-Campus Housing Council on Tuesday approved a referendum
to allow students to vote whether to continue the Newspaper
Readership Program, which provides free newspapers, by raising
housing fees by $7 annually.

According to OCHC Chair Adam Harmetz, if resident student fees
are increased by $7, the program should cost no more than
$50,970.

“It’s guaranteed not to go any higher,”
Harmetz said. “It might even be lower.”

To make the program permanent, 60 percent of voters would need
to approve the referendum.

Several of the OCHC members said they don’t think
residents will approve it as soon as they see the fee increase.

But the Daily Bruin is concerned that if the readership program
is permanently implemented, the extra competition will lower the
paper’s already declining circulation and could put other
ASUCLA publications out of business as well.

According to Daily Bruin Editor in Chief Timothy Kudo, Daily
Bruin circulation has already dropped by 1,000 in the first half of
the quarter.

Penn State University, the first school that endorsed the
program, has seen its readership decline 10 percent every year
since its implementation in 1998, Kudo said.

The OCHC would work with The Bruin on the issue, said Steve
Sutton, president of Courtside in Sunset Village.