Yale students often complain about having too many papers to deal with. Most Yalies, however, are excited about the prospect of getting one more — The New York Times — in the dining halls.
The Yale College Council has been working with the Yale administration and the Yale Daily News to come up with a plan to deliver copies of the New York Times to the dining halls on weekdays. YCC Treasurer Andrew Klaber ’04 said the New York Times was the most widely read during the pilot Newspaper Readership Program in the spring.
The six-week program brought the New York Times, the Financial Times and USA Today to all of the dining halls. The YCC conducted surveys to determine whether to continue the program, and which publications were the most popular.
“It was found through the surveys done at the end of the Newspaper Readership Program that the New York Times was the most popular paper, far and away, among Yale College students,” Klaber said.
Klaber said the contract will hopefully be signed this week. The News still has not finalized a distribution contract with the New York Times, Publisher Rebecca Kaplan ’03 said.
“We are in the midst of negotiations with our distributor,” Kaplan said. “I am working incredibly hard to get this done as soon as possible, but like any good newspaper distribution program, it will take time.”
Yale President Richard Levin declined to comment on the program.
Klaber said there will be approximately 60 copies of the Times in each dining hall. He also said the University will save $5,000 that it usually spends on the rights to reproduce Times articles for classes and other purposes.
Klaber said he has already met with several people to discuss options for better recycling once the volume of newspapers in the dining halls increases.
“We dealt with [Recycling Coordinator] C.J. May and the Yale Recycling Team when we were conducting the Newspaper Readership Program and we’ve also met with [Yale Student Environmental Coalition] members about increasing recycling awareness when the New York Times begins delivery to the dining hall,” Klaber said. “The thought is there will be newspaper racks with the New York Times and the Yale Daily News and the Yale Herald and they will be located right next to or in close proximity to newspaper recycling bins.”
Klaber said students are also encouraged to reuse the papers so that everyone can have access to the Times.
The Yale Daily News approached the YCC about working together on the project, Klaber said. Yale Daily News Director of Business Development Teresa Overskei ’03 interned at the Times this summer and initiated the partnership, Kaplan said.
“The administration as well as the Yale Daily News and the Yale Herald have been really helpful in seeing this program through and helping to get it started up because if the YCC just wanted to do this by itself it would be infeasible,” Klaber said. “So this kind of coalition we have put together with the student newspapers has really encouraged the administration to be as helpful as they’ve been.”
Several students said they are excited about the prospect of getting the Times in the dining halls.
“I definitely think that I would read it,” Matthew Sanchez ’03 said. “I wouldn’t subscribe to it for myself but I think it’s a great thing that it’s in the dining hall.”