Hey, What Happened to the Newspapers?

Remember walking into Harris every morning and seeing USA Today, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times available for you to read? Unfortunately, these newspapers have vanished and it has become a big issue in our community, resulting in many discussions around campus.

However, students are not the only ones aware of this; the faculty has also begun to engage in dialogue about the possibilities of bringing the newspapers back to campus.

So why did the free newspaper stands cease to exist in the first place?

The newspapers were provided through a program called the Collegiate Readership Program that was financed by the Simmons Fund — a fund endowed by a donation from an alum.  It was only endowed for three years and all the money has been exhausted, leaving no resources available to continue financing the program.

While the college has recently enforced a stricter spending policy, students were never notified that the program would not be continued.  In the midst of this confusion, many students and faculty believe that the program should be a priority for the college’s funding allocation.

“I think it’s upsetting that something as simple as a newspaper has been taken away from the student body,” said senior Corey Testa, co-chair of an Student Government Association (SGA) task force on the newspaper readership program. “The staff and faculty should be more concerned in ensuring that intellectual dialogue on this campus does not decrease because of a lack of newspapers.”

Members of the faculty, particularly Tristan Anne Borer from the government department, voice the same opinion: “I don’t think we want to be a college that says we don’t think newspapers are important,” she said.

Professor Borer also believes that the newspapers are essential to our campus as an institution that promotes intellectual dialogue amongst the student community.

Our peer NESCAC schools continue to receive newspapers at no cost to the student body. Schools like Wesleyan, Williams, Swarthmore and Colby, among others, receive between 140 and 400 free copies of The New York Times every day.

“International relations cannot be taught without the newspaper,” Borer said. “For me there’s no substitute for a print edition of a newspaper, and I think we have evidence that students agree with this.”

Indeed, the SGA has already engaged in dialogue about the alternatives of finding ways to fund the program, such as reaching out to alumni. SGA discussed multiple sides of the issue, including the environmental impact of wasted newspapers.  Borer, however, continues to defend the need for print editions.

“Using the excuse that the newspaper is accessible online is like saying we have to close the bookstore. The New York Times is a textbook to me… the need to print things out is there, and it will be a long time before we become a completely paperless college.”

Photo by Tanaha Simon