A Government of the Student Body bill will soon determine if Gannett’s Readership Program will expand throughout the ISU campus, starting with a four-week trial period.

Here’s how the program works: With GSB permission, the Gannett Corporation will launch a four-week trial program throughout campus, providing copies of the Gannett-owned Des Moines Register and USA Today, along with the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. If the program continues, Gannett charges students $5 per semester, or $10 per year, to continue the “Readership Program.”

The problem with this program is that it’s not a “Readership Program,” as its student-friendly name suggests. It should be called the “Circulation Program.” Gannett went to the Audit Bureau of Circulation and convinced them to let campus papers count as circulation, as long as they were paid for by student fees. Gannett counts student subscriptions as circulation, which in turn equals more advertising revenue. If the program was created to encourage the noble goal of student readership, the papers would be free.

But they’re not — ISU students would be throwing a whopping $270,000 yearly at the largest newspaper conglomerate in the United States to get four newspapers dumped on them each day — papers that are already free online. How many students have the time to read four papers daily? And what could WOI Radio do with $270,000 of student fees? Or Reiman Gardens? Or the Leopold Center? Or any other ISU program that has been crippled by recent state budget cuts? The Readership Program is not a responsible use of student fees.

We admit, we have a bias on this issue. Most of us have worked at the Iowa State Daily since we were freshmen, learning the basics of reporting and writing in the ever-evolving classroom the Iowa State Daily is.

But the Gannett Readership Program won’t affect any of us. We’re concerned about its expansion because the program will affect future Daily employees and future generations of ISU students, faculty and staff who rely on the Daily for campus news.

The future of the Daily is at stake. The Daily is an independent student newspaper that relies on advertising revenue generated by its student employees; it receives $97,000 of GSB money each year — and that only covers three months of student subscriptions. With one-fifth of its advertising dollars coming from national companies, the Daily’s revenue could be sliced by as much as one-fifth if the Readership Program expands. Local advertising could also be affected, because the Des Moines Register is included in Gannett’s pretty package.

The Daily would have fewer pages and could not serve the ISU community in the capacity it does now. It couldn’t employ as many students, which would affect the quality of the print journalism program in the Greenlee School.

Government of the Student Body senators — take into account the Daily is a non-profit organization run by students that exists to serve the students, faculty and staff of Iowa State, not to make money. We only ask that you look out for the best interests of future ISU students, not a corporation that has come knocking at your door with a sly smile and a pretty package.