A survey that was conducted by the Residence Halls Association had no bearing on MSU's decision to add Fox News and ESPN2 to its "U Tube" cable television system.

Last month, University Housing announced it added the new channels and rearranged the order of the existing channels to group them in similar genres and to reflect East Lansing's cable lineup.

RHA conducted an online survey early this year to evaluate what residents on and off campus wanted to see on cable television.

Of the responses from the 990 people who participated in the survey, ESPN2 had 375 votes, while Fox News garnered 111 votes.

RHA and University Housing worked together to choose a new cable lineup.

Although Fox News was less popular with students surveyed, RHA President Kevin Newman said it was added to provide a political news balance.

RHA's survey didn't impact the university's decision because housing officials had already concluded lengthy negotiations with the cable signal provided with Comcast by the time they received the results, said University Housing Associate Director Fred Kayne.

About two years ago, around the time of the first developments in the War with Iraq, The Fox Broadcasting Company provided the university with a free one-year subscription to the Fox News channel.

When the trial subscription ended, Kayne said University Housing handled requests from students and groups such as the MSU College Republicans, as well as faculty and staff, including then-MSU President M. Peter McPherson. They then began to look into getting the Fox News channel added back to MSU's cable systems.

Newman said preliminary survey numbers were given to University Housing throughout the 2005 spring semester, but it's evident the university didn't use all of the results, as the survey suggested most students didn't want the Fox News station.

"If they used that, great," Newman said. "And if they didn't, well at least they made half of the suggestions."

Kayne said the survey results - although not used this time - will be saved and used to determine cable stations in the future.

MSU College Republicans chairperson Justine Ivanoff said Fox News brings a conservative view to campus stations that wasn't always there.

"It was just kind of weird that they didn't pick it up sooner," Ivanoff said.

But other students said they don't want the Fox News station.

"If people wanted to watch it that would be one thing, and I just wouldn't watch it," telecommunication, information studies and media sophomore Philip Moon said. "But there's no point in just putting it on there if there's no real demand."

For the last few weeks, Newman and other RHA members have been fielding e-mails from students who were upset that Fox News had been added to the university station and that The New York Times subscription in dorm rooms is being eliminated.

Newman said many of these complaints can be answered by clearing up the misconception that it was RHA's decision to add the Fox News station and cancel the newspaper subscriptions.

"It has to do with people's perceptions of political news organizations," Newman said. "Part of it is just the fact that some people just don't like Fox News. I haven't heard anyone complain about ESPN2."

Newman said University Housing officials told him during a meeting a few months ago that funding for the new channels would come from the elimination of The New York Times.

But University Housing Director Angela Brown said the two decisions occurred at the same time but had nothing to do with one another.

Housing officials had been following the newspaper usage and had determined there was a lack of interest due to the piles of unread newspapers said to be collected each night.

Brown said the new channels won't necessarily cost more and The New York Times will still be available in libraries, and in some cafeterias and academic buildings.

The extra money from eliminating the subscription isn't specifically going toward the new channels, Brown said, but is part of housing's yearly evaluation of its services to reduce all-around expenses.

Amy Davis can be reached at davisam8@msu.edu.