Students to get nat'l news

USA TODAY will be distributed free under AS plan, starting next spring

By Tamara Smith

Beginning this spring, free copies of USA TODAY will be available for Fresno State students, as part of their nation-wide readership program.

The Collegiate Readership Program, launched September 1999, was developed to encourage a lifelong newspaper readership habit and to increase students’ knowledge of local, national and international events.

Michelle Jurkovich, AS vice president of finance is the coordinator of this program.

Some 450 free newspapers will be available Monday through Friday the first day of instruction through the last day of instruction of the spring semester. Five stands or more will be spaced across the campus, according to Jurkovich. The newspaper stands will also be maintained, and left over papers recycled, by the program.

Not only for educational purposes, this program will serve as a form of entertainment for many. “One thing I heard from these students is that they'd like something to do during ‘dead time’ between classes,” Jurkovich said.

More than 250 schools were involved in this program as of August 2003, according to the USA TODAY Web site.

“ USA TODAY has long been committed to educational programs,” said Tom Curley, president and publisher of USA TODAY. “We hope to encourage students to read a newspaper every day.”

With a total average daily circulation of 2.3 million, USA TODAY is available worldwide.

“ We'll see how it goes, and should the program be a success with students, we'll continue next fall,” Jurkovich said.