Someday, and that day may not be too far off in the future, people will grab their personal viewing device out of their computer and head off to work. On this handheld screen, they will be able to read any article from the morning paper that meets their interests. A quick scroll, and one can switch from business to sports. And when this day comes, the time of the printed newspaper on the standard 24-by-36-inch sheets will be gone. No longer will walking out to the porch to pick up a hopefully dry newspaper be necessary. America is moving its news online, and very quickly. Not to be old-school, but we might not be ready.

Last week, the Student Association Assembly was made aware that the Student Readership Program, which places free copies of USA Today and The New York Times in the residence halls and other locations on campus, will be losing its funding from the Office of Academic Affairs. This is poor timing, not only for professors who use current events in the classroom, but also for the newspaper industry, which has struggled at winning over the eyes of America’s youth. The loss of the convenient free newspapers next to the doors is not going to help generate more interest in print media.

It would seem that the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications would be the greatest sufferer in this predicament.

‘I like the program,’ said Newhouse Dean David Rubin, ‘and I hope it doesn’t go away.’ Yet Rubin does not see his school suffering greatly from the loss. He reasoned that the majority of Newhouse students read their news online, and said there will still be just as many current events quizzes on recent material from newspapers.

While Newhouse students may be forced to get their news from free Web sites, they will definitely be handicapped by the importability of an online newspaper. Diehard readers like myself may have to pay the $200-plus a year that it costs to subscribe to The New York Times seven days a week, if we wish to keep our beloved hard copies. This seems like a paradox that tuition costs near $30,000 a year, and the university can’t manage to include in that lofty price a mass-order subscription to the papers.

Besides Newhouse, the students out of the communications program will be even less inclined to read news Web sites, leading to the unfortunate situation where students will seek out less in-depth news sources such as broadcast news to keep in the know. The 30-second pieces on CNN or the evening news do not even remotely compare to the details offered in an 1,000-word article.

Rubin contends that ‘most students aren’t reading 1,000-word articles.’ I take this as more evidence of our generation as being disinterested and impatient. Both traits spell bad news for the newspaper industry. I would be surprised if that many students picked up The Daily Orange were it not for the Suduko and crossword puzzles.

‘This is an important historical point,’ said Rubin. ‘Newspapers are making the transition from print to online. (The fight) is getting this generation to migrate to the Web.’

The dean noted that this move will save the cost-crunching publishers money in transportation, paper and printing fees.

Maybe the Office of Academic Affairs has recognized this trend toward an online news world, though I doubt it. But their funding is gone, and SA and the Co-Curricular Fee are struggling to fund the newspaper program with their limited budgets.

Someday I may have no choice and be forced to download the morning news into my own handheld news machine, but until that day comes, I will continue to get a morning paper, no matter what the cost. And Rubin assures me the cost will continue to increase for the luxury of a home-delivered paper in newsprint. In the meantime, let us all hope SA and the Co-Curricular Fee can continue to fund the Student Readership Program. This is a program where the students and the newspaper industry both win.