Returning students were surprised not to find the usual copies of major national newspapers outside the game room in the Usdan Student Center when they returned to campus this semester.The USA Today Readership Program, which provided the USA Today, the New York Times and the Boston Globe, was discontinued this fall "due to budget constraints," Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes said.

Student Activities cut the program because it determined that its cost was disproportionate to its effect on student life, she said.

"The program costs in excess of $10,000 for the nine-month school year," Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett said in an e-mail to the Justice.

The funds previously allocated for the program are now used for campus activities like Stein nights, Bennett said.

"Given that many folks now subscribe to papers online and that we were spending 20 percent of our budget to fund the program, we decided that the monies could be spent better elsewhere to benefit the student body," Bennett said.

Although Brandeis has used the readership program for the last four years, Grimes said Student Activities officials noticed the trend only last year when data and anecdotal evidence suggested that students were not reading the papers.

"When the papers were located in Shapiro, staff noted that other staff and faculty were taking papers," she said. "We decided to put them in Usdan outside the game room to encourage student use."

Bennett said that after the papers were moved to Usdan last semester, students reported to Student Activities that all copies of the New York Times and Boston Globe were gone by 9:30 or 10 a.m. and that only issues of USA Today remained later in the day.

"Several students also told us that staff were taking the papers," she added.

Since terminating the program, Student Activities has received between 15 and 20 complaints, Grimes said.

According to Bennett, Student Activities tried to make the newspapers available for sale in the bookstore after the papers were moved to Usdan. But "they had no takers," so they decided to discontinue the subscriptions, Bennett said.

Some students expressed their dissatisfaction when they learned of the program's cancellation.

"I think it's something worthwhile for students," Amy Marsh '08 said. "It enhances our scope of reality beyond the Brandeis bubble, and it's easier when you can just walk into Usdan and pick a newspaper up rather than having to go online."

Molly Jane Rosen '08 agreed, citing the quality of the newspapers as a reason to continue the program. "Getting CNN online isn't the same as getting a newspaper," she said. "If anything, they should have more [newspapers], not less."

But that feeling was not unanimous.

"It's probably better this way," Joanna Simon '08 said. "Anyone who's really invested in it can find headlines online-they cancelled it for a reason. It's a better use of paper and money."

Bennett said Student Activities is responding to the priorities of students.

"Student surveys tell us that Brandeis students want more activities on campus to enhance social life and Student Activities has made a commitment to increasing the variety and availability of programming on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as on holiday times," she said.

For example, the department has been sponsoring social events at the Stein every Thursday this semester, which costs "about the same amount of money and potentially benefit more students," according to Bennett.

Numbers at the events have ranged from 60 students to over 200, she added. "We are receiving very positive student feedback.