Letter to the Editor

Library

There are still questions about our library, but we certainly have a new football coach. If our university had to choose between the “student” and the “athlete” in the proverbial “student-athlete,” would it thus choose the latter? And if it had to choose between paying for online library databases and an updated dining hall…

I fear the issues surrounding library funding are but microcosms of a larger problem — one that has to do with the priorities of our university. Tuition is on the rise. Sports facilities are glorious.

The humanities are under threat. With these in mind, is it fair to say that student learning is the goal? Or is a business model, with its own army of costly consultants, taking over?

I don’t intend to blame only the administrators for our decadent priorities. As students, we must pose difficult questions, and we must try to answer them.

Are we satisfied with a four-year graduation rate under 25 percent? With a decrease in our academic resources?

I am not. Student learning should be the priority. A thriving library reflects this more than a new football coach or dining center.

Professors can help by modeling the discussions on which flourishing academic life is based.

Does the environmentalist, then, respectfully question the petroleum engineer? Does the economist remind the environmentalist of the oil-driven economic growth that can be used to fund, say, a university library?

Together, we can question our way to better priorities.

 

Ben Davis

international studies major