The Iowa State Daily Publications Board is making plans for a new, supplemental publication targeted at Iowa State faculty and staff.

Daily officials are hoping to establish the weekly publication, called the University Times, this month, according to documents provided by the board, which has ultimate control over the newspaper.

“It’s something the Daily has been thinking about for a long time,” said Janette Antisdel, the Daily’s general manager. “We think it will be a wonderful opportunity for the university faculty and staff to have their own newspaper.”

Officials are now advertising for a professional editor to run the University Times. The editor, who will hire students to write for the publication, will be under Antisdel’s supervision.

“This is a way to make sure the Daily maintains 100 percent of its student control,” Antisdel said.

But Troy McCullough, editor of the Daily, isn’t so sure.

“It greatly concerns me that the editor will be a professional,” McCullough said. “We have never produced a publication headed by a professional editor. The impact this has on the possibility of future professionals in the newsroom is a little more hazy.”

McCullough said he agreed with the proposal because it was the “lesser of two evils.” He said by having the professional report to Antisdel, as opposed to him, the Daily will remain as independent as possible from the University Times.

He said, however, that board members may be acting too hastily in undertaking a new publication. “I honestly don’t know if it’s necessary or not,” McCullough said.

Board minutes indicate that McCullough is in the minority.

Antisdel said budget concerns are also paramount.

“Any time the Daily takes a look at its finances, you have to look at ways to off-set the increasing cost of newsprint,” Antisdel said. Through the University Times, Daily officials are hoping to guard against sacrificing campus advertising dollars to the Ames Daily Tribune, one of the Daily’s chief competitors, according to the board’s August minutes.

Soaring newsprint costs have forced newspapers across the country to juggle budgets.