When Carissa Gerber entered Gordon she was used to reading the news every day – her sources included newspapers, internet, and TV. She went to a public high school in Chicago where in order to interact with the students and teachers she needed to be informed. However, since being at Gordon her desire to be in touch with the news has been stifled by unreliable resources, such as the college’s internet, or other students who would rather watch “MTV in the lounge instead of the nightly news”. She says she receives most of her news at Gordon from word of mouth. The problem with this method, she thinks, is that “the things that feel relevant to Christians are more specific to social injustice or they have slightly political opinions…not that that’s bad… but I’m not going to be getting as much news about the immigration issues going on in Arizona or gay rights issues because they aren’t great topics of conversation for Christians“.
Another student, Rachel Strasner, who lives off campus, was also used to checking the news daily on the internet - she used both CNN and Fox News online. Because she lives off campus and does not pay for internet this is no longer a viable option. “At school I feel pretty cut off from news, unless I’m in Lane and the news is on, or it comes up on the Go Site.”
Bill Kovach says in his book The Elements of Journalism, that “people crave news out of basic instinct – what we call the Awareness Instinct. They need to know what is going on over the next hill, to be aware of events beyond direct experience.” The question we should be asking ourselves is if news is so important to us as humans, why is it not easily accessible to students? Many of the students offered suggestions on what Gordon can do to help this issue. Rachel thought “that Gordon should have a radio station to discuss daily news or political happenings.” This would make it easier for her to hear news relevant to the students on her way to school. She also says, “If there are big events going on in America or there is an international crisis it would be a lot more effective if they used the TV’s in Ken Olsen or designated a TV on campus where students could watch.” A professor Jeff Miller says, “I wish I had a “dumping” place where I could link interesting articles and reviews and invite casual commentary from those interested. My guess is that such a platform exists, probably in Blackboard.” Another suggestion would be making it widely known that if students could afford it, they could purchase subscriptions to different newspapers and have them delivered to the student mailboxes. The assumption, however, that a college student can afford to spend money on “extras” such as a newspaper subscription when they’re worried about paying off large students loans, seems unfair.
While Gordon students are interested in the news, they are finding it difficult to access it on campus. It is the duty of the students to ask for more resources from the college so that they can be informed.
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