The Collegiate Readership Program and student government's role in contacting the class of 2013 were two items of discussion at Tuesday's Council of Representatives (COR) meeting.
Chief of staff Ryan Brellenthin said the costs for The Chicago Tribune, one of the three newspapers involved in the program, will rise nearly 250 percent an issue next year.
Brellenthin asked the council for their input on whether or not they believed the paper should be kept as a part of the program, or if they should look into other options.
Joey Brown, president of the class of 2009, said the committee should possibly look into asking for more money to be put into the budget for the program.
Student body president Grant Schmidt said this option may not be feasible due to the tight budget student government is currently on.
Instead, COR members agreed there is a need for a used paper rack to be added to each of the dining halls.
With the addition of these racks, it is student government's hope members of the undergraduate population will recycle papers for later use by other students.
Overall, the members of the council felt that student government should look into options other than cutting the Chicago Tribune out of the program.
"Current usage demonstrates that people use the paper," student body vice president Cynthia Weber said in reference to the per day usage, which is estimated at 272 copies.
The Chicago Tribune is the least consumed out of the three newspapers in the Collegiate Readership Program at Notre Dame, with students consuming an average of 394 copies of the New York Times per day as well as 401 copies of USA Today.
COR members also looked at ways in which student government could reach out to members of the class of 2013 before they came to campus during the meeting.
"It would be beneficial for us to contact the new freshmen," Schmidt said. "This is like a sort of branding thing for student government."
President of Judicial Council Ian Secviar said it was important for members of student government to reach out so new students would have a chance to understand what the organization was all about.
"It is important that we are changing their opinions early and often," Secviar said. "We are leaders and need a united front."
One of the ways the council discussed contacting the incoming class was to place a student government card inside one of the various organization packets students receive before coming to campus.
Class of 2010 president Chris Tillett said the group should explore the possibility of sending out an e-mail.
Gus Gari, the director of external affairs said student government should look into the idea of creating a logo specifically for student government.
"The logo would give us a way of branding ourselves like the Student Union Board has," said Gari. "It would bring everything that we do together."
