Have you heard the news?
Starting this semester, the Undergraduate Assembly will bring 657 free copies of The New York Times to Penn's campus every weekday. As part of the $21,000 initiative, students can pick up a paper at 18 different locations on campus.
The program couldn't come at a better time. College student readership of national newspapers is on the decline, and according to Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy, only 13 percent of young adults read a newspaper several times a week.
Offering people the convenience of picking up a free copy of the Times helps expose students to major national issues and provides a glimpse of life outside the Penn bubble.
Still, the UA's efforts won't count for much if students can't find the papers. In many buildings and college houses, newspapers are shoved to an obscure corner instead of being placed in prime locations near entry points or information desks.
Throughout the semester, administrators should work with UA members to find out which distribution points aren't getting enough traffic, and then make the necessary adjustments.
After all, increasing newspaper readership ties well into the University's goal of relating academic research to real-life applications. We're optimistic that students - and other Penn community members - will take advantage of this valuable opportunity.
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