Racks that once held free copies of The New York Times for any and every student and faculty member at Dixie State University are now empty.
If you enjoyed having free access to The New York Times as much as I did in past semesters, you were likely disappointed at the decision made to discontinue this practice.
The loss of this service is a detriment to our university and to the building of better students.
The New York Times offered a national perspective to our students and faculty, helped to keep them abreast of current events, gave them information to help form opinions on important events, and provided entertainment.
Simply put, having easier access to national news sources helps students, citizens and critical thinkers grow. This should be the primary goal of Dixie State University.
While I do believe that those who are most interested in staying current with news are getting their “fix” from other sources, getting rid of The New York Times takes away a great outlet for budding news aficionados to find a love for the news.
Henry Beecher Ward once said, “The newspaper is a greater treasure to the people than uncounted millions of gold.” Access to knowledge has long been equated with power and freedom. If we are to build a society of critical thinkers, it is necessary that we have ready access to major news outlets.
For that matter, why stop with bringing back The New York Times? Are other voices of the news less worthy or less enjoyable for students? If we don’t encourage the rising generation (and yes, folks, that’s us) to seek after knowledge, form opinions and listen to all sides of an argument, then they likely won’t do it by themselves.
Teachers also had the option of basing lessons or aspects of their classes around the newspaper when it was still offered for free. This was a great way for students to be introduced to the world of news. It was engaging, made for great classroom discussions and made many a student (myself included) more interested in gaining knowledge about the world around them.
I would urge the administration at Dixie State University to consider picking up multiple national news outlets to put into the hands of students. Though providing this service has a monetary cost to the university, I’m confident that the benefits of having news outlets available to students far outweigh any detriments.
