Letter: Newspaper distribution issues

November 12th, 2009 | By —Victoria Brown, History Department | Section: Opinion

I am dismayed to learn of the decision not to deliver print copies of the S&B to every faculty and staff member (as you did not mention administrators, I assume they continue to get print copies). At the same time, I am totally sympathetic with the economic calculations that led to this decision. I will put aside, out of good will, any questions about why, after all these years, the S&B, with administration support and no consult with faculty, suddenly decided to stop print distribution to the non-student members of the Grinnell community. I choose not to think that this has anything to do with last spring’s active use of the S&B to thrash out a dispute between faculty members and the administration. Allow me, instead, to strongly suggest that the S&B offer subscriptions to faculty and staff so that we have the option to receive print copies in our mailboxes. These subscriptions can be calculated to recoup your extra costs. Indeed, I suggest you offer non-student members of the community the opportunity to subscribe at a couple of different levels; some will chose to pay for the cost of their copy, others of us would choose to contribute beyond basic costs in order to strengthen your budgetary situation.

The tripartite theme in every discussion on campus right now is community, communication, and campus unity. Rather than taking this moment to constrain communication on campus, I urge you to take the opportunity to ask faculty and staff to pull together with you in an effort to stay on the black side of the Scarlet & Black’s ledger sheet. Don’t cut us off—or send us to the website that you know will be forgotten on busy Friday afternoons. Bring us in, let us help you with this problem, make us your subscribers, not your former readers.

—Victoria Brown, History Department