THE ENVIRONMENT is hot right now. Besides rising temperatures and melting ice caps, it is now cool — for lack of a better word — to be green. This enthusiasm is evident at the University as well. For one thing, the Free Newspaper Project, a recent initiative co-sponsored by Student Council and the Arts and Sciences Council, was met with a degree of concern. The proposal to provide students with free copies of The New York Times and USA Today “could be detrimental to the environment by creating excess waste,” according to a quotation from lead project organizer Steven Reilly on last Wednesday’s Cavalier Daily news page. The councils’ environmental awareness is admirable but oversensitive; the benefits of the Free Newspaper Project far outsize its ecological footprint.
It is somewhat surprising that an institution as socially minded and civically active as the University does not already provide its students with free national newspapers. Many schools around the country have similar programs, and their success was one of the main factors that sparked the Project’s creation. Few doubt that the Free Newspaper Project will generate improvements around Grounds, including a more informed student body and an additional selling point to prospective students. One only needs to look at comparable programs for an example of these positive effects; at Penn State University, where the Newspaper Readership Program has been in place since 1997, research and polling conducted on the student population “suggests a strong relationship between newspaper readership and student engagement both on campus and in the community.” This new program will also be available for all students to take advantage of, unlike other Council initiatives that may only benefit a specific organization. The Free Newspaper Project is so in line with the University’s educational philosophy that it very well could have come from Mr. Jefferson himself.
However, some of that social mindedness we are known for fosters hesitation to embrace the project. The University has been getting greener, as evidenced by the cleaner, more efficient bus system and “trayless” cafeterias. Printing an extra 1,500 newspapers a day may seem to be a step backward. Connie Migliazzo, a member of Student Council’s Environmental Sustainability Committee, told The Cavalier Daily she “feels the councils should look into providing memberships to online publications” and does not think providing hard copies “is necessary.” Online subscriptions seem to be an attractive alternative at first glance, but they would not prove as effective as printed copies. The average student is much more likely to pick up a visible hard copy than to use his or her free time to browse for stories on the web. Madhu Reddy, Vice President of the Arts and Sciences Council, points out that “an online subscription would be harder to publicize; something that’s online is not as tangible and would not achieve the same level of readership.” Contrary to electronic reading, printed newspapers can be read during a meal, before class and while waiting in line. This fact may be changing due to news availability on mobile phones, but those that are motivated to check out the online version of the Times are probably well informed already and would not stand to benefit substantially from free national newspaper access.
Furthermore, online subscriptions may not be fair to publishing companies. Students could share their account names and passwords with friends and family members that do not attend the University, giving them free access to the online content. Many publishing companies are working to promote college readership and often provide discounts or other benefits. We should not take advantage of their generosity.
Newspapers also bring with them the potential for recycling programs, which have been highly successful at other schools. Dr. Philip Burlingame, chair of Penn State’s Student Newspaper Readership Program Committee, notes that “Penn State collects and sells recycled newspaper” and “the market for recycled paper is quite strong these days.” He adds that “the revenue from those sales is matched by our newspaper partners and that money is used to establish endowed student scholarships. In the past eleven years Penn State has raised nearly $100,000 from newspaper recycling efforts to create permanently endowed scholarships for our students.” Are there any barriers that would prevent the formation of a similar agreement at the University?
The two councils plan to address environmental concerns by placing recycling containers next to newspaper stands and encouraging students not to throw away the papers. This is a step in the right direction, and by building on it the councils could create something positive out of this perceived conflict. The Cavalier Daily recycles its excess copies through UVA Recycling, and this could be expanded to include the new national papers. Environmental awareness is important, but it should not come at the expense of education.
Mitch Ross is a Cavalier Daily Viewpoint Writer.
Read More
WILLIAMS: Donald Trump will be a threat to student loan forgiveness
By Ryan Williams | YesterdayTo be sure, this is not a problem of the University’s making. Nevertheless, understanding the uncertainty of financial accessibility in education, the University must step up to the plate.
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 6 days agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | January 13, 2025After all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
