Newspaper subscriptions have made their way to the University of Dayton in a new way – digitally.
Beginning this year, the Student Government Association is providing online subscriptions to The New York Times to all students, faculty and staff with access to a university email address, said SGA president Emily Kaylor.
Kaylor, a senior political science major, said there are “200 passes on 24-hour rotations.” According to The New York Times’ website, passes are granted on a first-come-first-served basis based on when individuals access NYTimes.com/Passes. Kaylor added that it’s not a midnight-to-midnight pass.
“If someone logs in at 2 p.m. and there’s a pass available, they’ll have it until 2 p.m. the next day,” she said.
The online accessibility will also include access via the NYTimes app on smartphones.
The passes are available to students at no additional charge. The subscriptions are paid for by SGA using funds from the student activity fee.
“The New York Times is built into the [SGA] budget,” she said.
There is the possibility of increasing the number of [online] subscriptions if usage is high. Kaylor said if they do decide to increase the subscriptions, SGA would talk to administrators to see if there’s another office on campus that would help subsidize it with them.
“We’re not going to take money away from student orgs because that’s what we’re here for,” she said.
In addition to the 200 online subscriptions, 200 print copies will continue to be delivered to campus and distributed at locations such as Kennedy Union, Marycrest Hall, Marianist Hall and the Humanities building each weekday, according to Kaylor.
To students who have heard about the Academic Passes, reaction has been positive.
Abe McCarty, a junior political science and international studies double major, has been picking up The New York Times paper in Kennedy Union since his freshman year and says it’s great UD is getting online access.
“I’m not getting nearly as much as I could,” McCarty said about the limitations of the print product.
He said he will definitely use the passes because of the current 10 article per month limit that NYTimes.com instituted in April.
For years, an alternative to the SGA-funded New York Times papers has been discounted subscriptions through the UD Bookstore.
The subscription through the bookstore costs $48.75 per semester for a daily paper along with online access to the site.
Loretta Geiger, general book supervisor and supervisor in charge of The New York Times subscriptions, said that subscriptions have decreased dramatically in recent years. She said they used to have about 200 people buying subscriptions two or three years ago. Currently, there are around 20 people with subscriptions through the bookstore.
Geiger attributes the decrease to SGA offering free papers around campus. She said the benefit of buying through the bookstore is that individuals are guaranteed a paper and don’t have to worry about getting to the stands before the SGA papers are picked up.
Academic Passes will be available through all breaks, with the exception of summer.
