TOPEKA, Kan. – Starting August 31, Washburn students will have the world at their fingertips. The Washburn Student Government Association has partnered with USA Today to manage the Collegiate Readership Program at Washburn. During the 2009-2010 academic school year, copies of USA Today, the Topeka-Capital Journal, and the New York Times will be available at no charge to Washburn students at five different campus locations.

The goal of the readership program is to engage college students in active learning inside and outside the classroom by increasing knowledge of local, national and international events. WSGA is launching this initiative to promote civic engagement on campus and broaden students’ awareness of current issues through newspaper readership.

“This has been a very popular program at Washburn, and WSGA is pleased to announce it will be back this fall,” said Garrett Love, WSGA president.

USA Today, the Topeka Capital-Journal and the New York Times will be available in Henderson Hall, Stoffer Science Hall, the Petro Allied Health Center, and two locations in the Memorial Union. Representatives from USA Today will deliver all three publications to the five campus locations each morning, Monday through Friday, during the academic school year. It is encouraged for students to return the newspapers to the newspaper displays after reading the papers in order for more students to be able to enjoy the program and reduce waste.

In addition, while WSGA has maintained its $20,000 of funding for Collegiate Readership, Academic Affairs has withdrawn the $20,000 it had invested in the program. This means only Student Activity Fee money pays for the newspapers this year, therefore all non-students should take notice that because of this, these newspapers are now for Washburn University students only. Signs will be posted to notify of this change in the program.

“While we can sympathize with faculty and staff for not being able to receive the free newspapers anymore, we are here to serve the students, and that is the bottom line,” said Love.

The Collegiate Readership Program, managed by USA Today, brings a diverse assortment of newspapers to campuses across the nation and is enhanced by the Collegiate Academic Web site, www.usatodaycollege.com. Since its inception in 1997 at Penn State University, student use and interest in the Collegiate Readership Program has grown rapidly. Currently, other 450 campuses across the country have implemented student readership programs including Kansas State University, Washington University-St. Louis, University of Missouri-Columbia, Truman State University, and University of Missouri-St. Louis.

-Campus Announcement