Pilot plight
More than four months after the idea was first presented to the Student Government Association, USA Today is available for free on campus.
That is, if you can find a copy. The pilot program, which debuted Tuesday, provides 200 copies of USA Today to CMU students Monday through Friday.
The papers will be distributed at the Down Under Food Court entrance in the Bovee University Center, Anspach Hall's northeast entrance, the Health Professions Building and the Towers' front desk area.
For two days, Tuesday and Feb. 27, USA Today representatives as well as student volunteers will ask students who pick up copies of the newspaper to fill out a survey.
The trial program has several flaws.
Not enough papers
Is 200 papers really enough to gauge student reaction to a free newspaper on campus?
No.
In fact, a member of our editorial board tried to find a copy of USA Today around 1 p.m. Tuesday and could not. Locations already had run out for the day.
The people who are receiving copies are not representative of the student population as a whole. Therefore, the results of this pilot are meaningless in expanding it past the 200 copies per day.
Students who are able to obtain a copy are either avid newspaper readers or people who happen to be walking by.
Both of these groups make it impossible to make any decisions based on the trial run.
Of course avid readers will jump at the chance to catch up on the latest national news. Does that mean the student body as a whole will participate if the program is adopted and expanded?
Absolutely not.
Survey inefficient
When students took a copy of USA Today on Tuesday, they were asked to fill out a survey.
The 11-question survey asked readers general questions on how often they read newspapers, why they read them and how often they would participate in an expanded program.
It'd be nice if USA Today had 200 surveys to take back with them from Tuesday.
But the survey was not required. SGA officials were not able to release exact figures late Tuesday, but it doesn't take much analysis to find out that students are not always willing to take time to fill out a survey in return for a gratuity.
Let's be generous and say 100 surveys were completed.
After both days of information gathering, USA Today and SGA will have input from 200 students - many of them avid newspaper readers.
Is that justification for a program that by many estimates would cost more than $100,000 for the school year?
Obviously not.
Not a reality
In an ideal world, free newspapers would be great.
Yes, it would contribute to a worldly knowledge on campus. Yes, the papers could even be worked into current curriculum.
But the reality of CMU's budget crunch does not allow for it.
In the meantime, USA Today is available for free at the Charles V. Park Library and online at usatoday.com.
Or, pick up a free copy at one of the on-campus locations.
If they're still there.
