The Student Association Executive Board, with the help of the Off-Campus College Council, has secured funding for an eight-week trial of The New York Times’ Readership Program.

The trial, a scaled-down version of the full Times’ Readership Program — which would have included 700 daily deliveries of the newspaper for the year and one speaking engagement with a Times’ journalist — will consist of campus delivery of 400 free issues of the Times beginning on Monday, Nov. 7 at a price of $4,000.

Kate Flatley, SA vice president for academic affairs, said that most regional universities, including Buffalo State College, Cornell University, SUNY Geneseo and a long list of others, have the Readership Program already.

“We’re pretty much the only university in this region that does not have a New York Times Readership Program,” she said.

The projected cost for the full Readership Program was initially projected at $58,000 for the year, but Flatley said she thought that this was too expensive.

“I think that $58,000 is too expensive and an unfeasible amount for the University or the Student Association to spend that much money in wake of budget cuts and the current economic climate,” Flatley said.

The Readership Program also includes internship positions for BU students who distribute the newspaper on campus, according to Flatley. The program allocates $200 a week to be split among the delivery interns. Flatley has not decided how many interns she will take yet.

On Tuesday, Flatley requested the $4,000 for the trial from the SA’s Financial Council (FinCo), but FinCo rejected the request. Seven members of the council voted against the funding, two members abstained and zero members voted for it, according to Aaron Ricks, the chair of FinCo.

“Financial Council was wary about the success of the project without any outside funding sources,” Ricks said. “At the time she came to us, Kate Flatley had not received any funding from community governments or other outside sources.”

After the FinCo meeting, Flatley obtained $1,500 for the Times partnership from the Off-Campus College Council (OC3).

“I have no idea why OC3 funded me and FinCo didn’t but it would appear to me that this OC3 knows a good [program] when they see one,” she said.

Flatley noted that she will combine these funds with a portion of her academic programming budget to cover the cost of the eight-week trial.

If the trial garners a positive campus response, Flatley said she would look to renew the program if enough funding was provided.

“I’m looking for a way to truly quantify the results of the trial program to get a really good representation of how students feel about it and how successful it will be,” Flatley said.

A renegotiated extension of the Times package would cost an estimated $14,000, according to Flatley, who has had multiple conversations with the regional Times representative.

Flatley said that the trial program does not include access to the Times’ website, which instituted a flexible pay wall in March. Flatley noted that she would consider looking into website access if there is sufficient student demand.

Frankie Smith, an SA representative for Hinman College and a junior double-majoring in sociology and Africana studies, said he thought the proposal to obtain distribution of the Times on campus would improve student life.

“Students just feel articulate with a copy of The New York Times,” Smith said.

Brian Davis, a junior majoring in Russian studies, said that, although he is not a regular newspaper reader, a political science class he is enrolled in this semester requires him to read news articles. He said he would pick up a copy of the Times if it were available on campus.

Melissa Levin, an undeclared freshman, said she likes the idea of a major newspaper being distributed at BU, but she would prefer a different newspaper than the Times.

“I really like the idea of an outside newspaper on campus, but I personally would not choose The New York Times,” Levin said.

Levin, however, said that if she had the choice between having the Times available on campus and having no external newspaper at all, she would choose to have the Times.