GUSA readership program preemptively cut

The Georgetown University Student Association Senate’s Finance and Appropriations completely cut the Collegiate Readership Program from its draft student activities budget for fiscal year 2015. The program distributes free copies of major newspapers at various locations across campus. Without $14,000 from the student activities fee funding it, the program will be completely eliminated.

According to members of GUSA FinApp, the decision to remove funding to the program was because of a lack of data concerning student use of the program. These members were concerned that faculty and graduate students were taking advantage of a program that was being funded by undergraduate tuition dollars.

Although this concern is legitimate, the decision was made preemptively. This is a program that has been around for six years and has established itself as a mainstay of campus life. It’s completely dismissive for FinApp to decide that insufficient data is an adequate reason to completely eliminate a program.

Another issue is that there was a lack of both student and faculty input. Eliminating a program that has been around for this long will inevitably affect those members of the Georgetown community who rely on these papers as their news source. The people who depend on the program should have been incorporated into the decision-making process and had the option to offer input in some capacity.

In order to adequately address these issues, GUSA FinApp would have to have gathered thorough research on consumption statistics. If after analysis, it were determined that faculty members were the primary readers and it was not worth student tuition dollars, then alternative funding options should be explored. There will always be people on campus who want to read The Washington Post, The New York Times, and USA Today.

Considering the reading restrictions applied to almost all online newspapers, Georgetown students are limited in their options for access to reliable news sources. An integral component of being an educated student is having global awareness. Therefore, it’s important to look into other ways to continue the Collegiate Readership Program. Georgetown has the social responsibility to provide its economically diverse community with an accessible link to national and international news.