All faculty, staff and students at Elon University can register to enjoy The New York Times on a daily basis via their computers, smartphones and tablet apps.
“We believe that providing students, faculty and staff with daily access to the news of the world will contribute to the campus’s intellectual vitality,” said Paul Parsons, dean of the School of Communications. “Knowledge is the first step to having informed and substantive conversations.”
The coalition funding the digital access consists of the School of Communications, Elon College, Belk Library and the Residential Campus Initiative through the Provost’s Office.
The university became eligible for the campuswide program through the School of Communications participating in the print-edition Collegiate Readership Program. The program provides three free newspapers in McEwen Communications Building each school day: USA Today and the Burlington (N.C.) Times-News in addition to The New York Times. These papers provide the campus with local, national and international news, along with opinion pieces that range from conservative to libertarian to liberal perspectives.
To better integrate The New York Times into the classroom, nearly 40 Elon faculty and staff members attended an Aug. 25 session with Times education manager Laura Reino. The one-hour session during Planning Week highlighted special features for faculty who wish to use the news in classes or for research. These resources include the publication’s archives, which date back to 1851, as well as 37,000 original videos that are sharable and searchable.