Daily: A New Distribution Plan

Use of Building Request, Student Activities Bureau, September 10, 1951, Page 1 

Use of Building Request, Student Activities Bureau, September 10, 1951, Page 2

Use of Building Request, Student Activities Bureau, September 10, 1951, Page 3

With the rise in enrollment as an outcome of the 1940s, off-campus housing became more popular and fewer students engaged with campus services. This included the student post office (PO) boxes in Coffman Memorial Union, where the Daily distributed their newspapers. In summer 1951, the Daily examined their issue distribution plan, as copies of the newspaper were piling up in the Union and causing financial concern. To reduce costs and improve access, staff suggested placing multiple distribution boxes filled with issues of the Daily across campus instead of individual PO boxes.

Theron Johnson, Director of the Student Activities Bureau, submitted a "Use of Building Request" on the behalf of the Daily on September 10, 1951. On an experimental basis, the request included the use of 15 classroom buildings on the Main Campus and 6 on the St. Paul Campus to hold distribution boxes for the 1951-1952 school year. Despite concerns by the Physical Plant Department and the Coffman Union Board of Governors, President James L. Morrill approved the request with the stipulation that a special committee be formed to review the outcome at the end of the academic year.

After a year of review, Dean of Students Edmund G. Williamson wrote to President Morrill on September 30, 1952, with a summary of the ad hoc committee’s findings from their review of the new distribution method. The committee found that the readership of the Daily had increased and that students appreciated the convenience of multiple locations across campus. There was concern by the administration that removing the Daily would affect the use of the Union by current students; however, the report concluded that its removal from the central PO boxes had little effect on the building’s use and it was decided that the new distribution method for the Daily would continue.