The Wealthiest Colleges Should Acquire 'The New York Times'

[Commentary] The time has come for the nation's wealthiest colleges and universities to rescue its leading newspapers -- resources almost as vital to higher education's purpose as libraries, laboratories, classrooms, and concert halls. The plan I have in mind would call upon the richest institutions to set aside 3 percent of their endowments to buy The New York Times. That's for a start. Additional purchases of other newspapers by other endowments should follow. Never has the need to protect journalism as the source of current knowledge been more evident than now. Surveys of Americans unearth disturbing shards of information: Many cannot name a single U.S. Supreme Court justice; some do not read a single nonfiction book a year. Higher-education institutions and newspapers have an essential bond -- a dedication to the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge -- that makes them mutually dependent. Over the years newspapers have generally defended colleges and universities as sanctuaries for the exchange of ideas -- no matter how repugnant some of those ideas may be -- and championed expenditures on education. Now it's time for higher education, specifically the nation's wealthiest institutions, to come to the aid of newspapers.
http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i35/35a03201.htm