Over the summer, the eight-member Faculty Working Group on Academic Challenge examined the perceptions of Connecticut College’s academic program by analyzing recent studies and survey data, and offered recommendations for improving the college’s intellectual climate both inside and outside the classroom.
Their recommendations encompass the curriculum and academic programs, academic advising, faculty engagement, student engagement and the public presentation of the college.
The Faculty Working Group acknowledged that in terms of student engagement, the Residential Education and Living and Student Life offices have initiated fantastic programs the past few years including restructuring the house leadership positions and creating the Residential Education Fellows program. Both programs have increased the venues for intellectual debate and conversation within the houses.
However, they did still offer several bullet points of suggestions to continue to enhance intellectual engagement outside of the classroom, including maintaining the Readership Program which offers free newspapers to students.
I found this point especially intriging because I attended the Student-Trustee Liaison Committee meeting this past Friday as a member of the Student Government Association’s executive board and felt considerable pushback from several trustees on reinstating the Readership Program (at least to get the New York Times on campus five days a week). Although they did not say it was a low priority item for the college, they reminded us that Conn, like other peer institutions around the county, have limited funds and need to prioritize where those resources should be spent.
We were also reminded that the New York Times is available online and that the front page articles are only one click away from the main page.
These facts are true – and with environmental concerns, combined with the fact that professors who require the paper copy of the New York Times could simply adapt and only require a printout of the online edition (or no printout since the campus is striving to be “paperless”), I can see why the Readership Program would be relatively low on the college’s list of priorities.
So why was it still listed as a suggestion by the Faculty Working Group on Academic Challenge?
Because having the news in your face – be it a newspaper lying on the table in Harris or as the home page of an Internet browser – offers a quick glimpse into the world outside Conn and sparks breakfast and lunchtime conversations.
As college students, we’re overwhelmed with homework, meetings, extracurricular activities, social life and the occasional lecture or two, and many of us don’t have time to watch the 6 o’clock news or keep up with the incessant New York Times Twitter feeds.
As someone who prides myself in keeping up-to-date on the vast majority of major news, even I admit to a few “dark days.” I found out about the typhoon in India and Southeast Asia via an email from a friend (quite an embarrassing moment for me).
Sometimes just a browse through the paper in the morning or during a food dash in the afternoon before class is enough to keep us connected to the outside world, and engage us in conversations about current events from around the globe.
However, I’m likely biased (I am the editor-in-chief of a newspaper as well as SGA Chair of Academic Affairs, after all…). I’d love to hear from you – those who read the print edition of the paper, those who don’t and those who just glance at the headlines.
If we want the Readership Program to last, we need to show our collective enthusiasm to the administration and trustees, otherwise, the program will likely fall by the wayside for the million other initiatives and strategic goals of the college.
And if the campus feels that receiving print editions of the newspaper isn’t necessary, let’s find an alternative that still makes the news easily assessable to all – the obsessive daily reader and the casual caption reader alike.
