Please Pass the Newspaper

There was notable excitement last Sunday night when students learned that the Undergraduate Council (UC) would be considering a bill that would make copies of The New York Times available in dining halls across campus for the remaining two months of the year. A trial period earlier this year was an unmitigated success—over 350 students wrote to the UC about how great it was to find the Times at their breakfast tables.

Then came the news that the UC had voted the proposal down. Spending $1,728 to deliver five newspapers a day to each house dining hall plus an additional 20 newspapers to Annenberg was, according to the UC, not a wise way to spend the nearly $290,000 they have to give out each year. We disagree.

Having The New York Times available in dining halls would dramatically benefit a broad array of students. While the Times’ news coverage is largely available for free online, having a national newspaper sitting on a dining hall table is convenient and increases the likelihood that students will actually read it. For some, reading a paper copy of the news, perhaps with a cup of coffee, is a pleasant morning ritual.

Newspapers in dining halls also have the added benefits of keeping students well-informed of events outside the “Harvard bubble,” and they spark discussions and debates over meals. Having even a few papers available would greatly benefit all students; information spreads by diffusion as roommates point out interesting or humorous articles to friends over breakfast.

To top it off, the price point was a steal. The Times would have footed the bill for delivery, and Harvard would have received eighty newspapers for ten weeks for just over $1,700 dollars, amounting to just 40 cents a copy (the Times sells for a dollar on newsstands).

The UC chose not to fund copies of The Times partly in order to have more funds for student groups. The UC’s annual budget is about $410,000, which, after setting aside money for House Committees (HoCos), the party fund, and operations leaves about $290,000 to be given out to student groups in the form of grants. As of last Sunday, only $62,000 remained, although once unspent money from last semester is formally moved into the available budget that amount should jump to about $80,000.

While anxiety about being able to fund all student group grant requests is understandable, such grants benefit only members of the student body who are also members of those groups. The UC should not have hesitated to set aside $1,700 to benefit all undergraduates, particularly when it gives huge grants to small student groups. For instance, at the same meeting that the UC voted down funding the Times, the Harvard Polo Club got $1,000. At the very least, the UC should have passed a last-ditch amendment which would have still provided papers on the condition that HoCos foot half the bill.

Since the bill failed, students have vented their disappointed to their UC representatives. We echo this sentiment and hope that the UC will find a way to make The New York Times permanently available in dining halls as soon as possible.