'Glut' of free campus publications is often wasteful

A few months ago, a freshman who lives in Blair Hall asked if I would put him in an editorial. He particularly wanted me to mention the "substance friendly" nature of his living quarters, though he also added "but don't mention my name." He knows who he is.

You probably think I am now going to crusade against any and all forms of recreational substance use, but you're wrong. Instead, I want to talk about the appropriate uses of campus publications. The instance I provided above was not an appropriate use of space in the 'Prince.' It was simply an instance of a personal favor done in an unrelated capacity. No one wants to read that. If the anecdote had been relevant to the subject of this editorial, it might have been acceptable, but not as it is.

Another incorrect use of this space would be giving favorable (or perhaps any) publicity to a campus event, simply because I thought it was going to be a good one, without having a column-worthy opinion to express. For example, were I to devote a paragraph to reasons people ought to attend Quipfire! this weekend (which I plan to do because it is very funny) when I was writing a column about the proper uses of Princeton publications, the information would be similarly irrelevant. I should be writing for the arts section if I want to endorse the show.

The biggest difficulty I have deciding what to write about for these columns always comes down to what is appropriate. The opinions page has recently (as in, this year) published editorials on everything from the war in Iraq to the purpose of feminism to campus intellectualism to the angst of room draw. In fact, the only issue no one seems to want to touch is abortion, and, well, I'm not going to go there either right now (though I do have a position, just ask me). Yet, there is still a decision to be made with every column. Is the opinion going to generate any discussion? Is the opinion relevant to Princeton students? Is anyone going to make nasty phone calls to my room late at night or serenade me at the window? If the answer is yes, you may have something worth saying. However, if you don't think anyone's going to read to the end of the piece, you probably don't.

I don't think there's any denying that Princeton currently suffers from a glut of publications. Every time I finally bother to kneel down and pick up piles of [insert name of your least favorite publication here], two more publications appear at my door the next morning. Yes, sometimes instead it's fliers for the Princeton tuxedo agency or Tiger Food, but I can't even count the number of campus publications I've picked up from in front of my door in the last month alone.

It's great that so many students want to write. It's great that there are so many different forums of debate and communication available to the writers of Princeton. However, we're grownups, sort of, and if nothing else, as Princeton students we're supposed to be relatively thoughtful, well informed and mature. We should realize that there is more to consider when publishing something than whether or not we wanted to write it, such as whether it's appropriate for the audience we want to reach and whether it will actually be read.

The phenomenon of so many free publications circulated so widely around campus is another symptom of Princeton and its students using money and resources because they can. It's also an instance of gratuitous paper waste, as I can only think of two publications the majority of students I know on campus actually read. The rest are hit or miss from one student to the next, and miss much more often than not. It's not even a problem of time constraints so much as the fact that no one is interested in everything. In fact, I can think of several examples of writers for publications not even interested in reading the rest of the issue where their work is published. If they don't have the interest, they should really question whether other students do.

The problem ultimately goes back to publications deciding what their purpose is. Of course one purpose is to be read. Writing is intended as communication, and many think that in most cases, the bigger the audience the better. However, students involved in such publications should also start thinking about who really wants to read their work. If they are really dead set on imposing their publication on everyone on campus just in the hopes of getting a few more readers, they should probably reevaluate their goals. There really is no reason for so many magazines to be delivering to everyone on campus, and a better method of distribution should be put into practice.