The Drummer’s plans for improvement are up in the air.

The Drummer, an alternative campus newspaper, recently announced plans to hire a general manager to supervise the paper’s production and increase the paper’s publication.

But after conversations with university officials, the Drummer may postpone its plans until spring.

With the new position, members of the staff hoped the Drummer would begin publishing on a more regular basis — one issue every two weeks — instead of once every month as it has done in the past.

Mark Ingles, adviser for the Drummer, said he spoke with Vice President of Business and Finance Warren Madden last week.

“Madden was concerned that the paper would hire a non-student to fill the position,” Ingles said.

In that case, the university was not willing to assume the professional liability insurance needed for a non-student employee of a university publication, he said.

However, Ingles said Madden told him the university would waive the professional liability insurance if the Drummer hired only students to fill the position.

If the paper chooses to buy the insurance, Paul McShane, treasurer for the Drummer, said the cost would hopefully be considerably less than the Iowa State Daily’s $2,000 annual liability insurance bill.

John Scriver, Drummer editorial board member, said that negotiations between the Drummer and the university would ultimately require a memorandum of agreement.

The Drummer recently created a three-person publication board to oversee the business aspects of the paper.

As for the future, Scriver said, “We’re taking a wait-and-see attitude, and we’re reviewing our options.”

Still, Ingles is optimistic. “We have a solid core group of six or seven people that are committed.”

Eventually he would like to see a group of 20 students who work at the paper on a regular basis, thus ensuring the quality of the paper and the publication schedule.

“We’re obviously not going to be able to publish as frequently as we wanted to,” Ingles said.

“Until we hire somebody, we will have to have a scaled-back paper.”

Rob Ruminski, a freshmen staff member, said the Drummer must proceed with caution.

“We need to expand and be more consistent, but we need to do so without compromising our values,” he said.