It recently dawned on me that in terms of world affairs in the realm outside Dartmouth, I somehow end up getting my news a day or so after everyone else. While the rest of the world was aware the instant Hamas swept the Palestinian parliamentary elections, I only found out when a friend casually asked me what I thought about it. And it was only through a telephone conversation that I found out -- a day after most people had -- that Kobe Bryant scored an amazing 81 points in what was the second-highest scoring game for any player in NBA history.
I am undoubtedly in the same boat as many other Dartmouth students. We should not be faulted for not keeping up with current events; we eventually pick up on the news, though sometimes after it has become old news. Rather, the problem is that we are in an environment so insular and self-sufficient that staying up on current events is simply not the most important thing in our Dartmouth lives. If ever there were a problem worthy of mention, but not in dire need of a solution, this would be that problem. After all, doesn't this issue simply imply that we isolate ourselves in our little safely-guarded Dartmouth bubbles, with our own headlines to worry about?
Most of us, by virtue of being on campus, know what's going on here at Dartmouth. We are well-versed in what qualifies as headline news at Dartmouth, and The Dartmouth does not fail to remind us, either. During the 10 weeks at a time that we are on campus, our news consists of Student Assembly policy headlines, coverage of various speaker lectures, and the latest Guy & Fellow. With such topics qualifying as headline news, it becomes easy to get a skewed idea of what is really important.
Some of our biggest and most uncommon news stories are reported in The D's "Police Blotter," a weekly report written in collaboration with the Hanover Police Department that highlights some not-quite criminal -- but certainly more "newsy" -- goings-on around the Dartmouth campus. A good example would be the details of last month's ever-popular wandering stalker incidents that took place around the River cluster. My all-time favorite report was the one about the driver who used to drive up the wrong side of the street at the same time every day until someone reported him to H-Po.
To me, this report was simply amusing and laughable, not newsworthy. Most other reports have described intoxicated and underage Dartmouth students exhibiting their drunkenness in the open -- these, too, are laughable.
Oddly enough, there have recently been two student reports of stolen checks by a seller on eBay -- reports that most people would popularly consider "real news." But these stories are very much beyond the sphere of Dartmouth, and involve outside influences.
Because of its location, Dartmouth is unlike many other schools, such as Yale, Columbia and NYU, where it is common to hear news of a student mugging or robbery at gunpoint. What qualifies as headline news here is much less harrowing.
Of course, there are those students -- possibly even a majority of students -- that act as human advertisements of some major national news source. They are often seen carrying a well-known non-Dartmouth publication, such as The New York Times or USA Today, thanks to Student Assembly.
Funding the Collegiate Readership program is one of the best initiatives that Student Assembly has ever done in my time here. The program costs the Assembly $25,000 of its $90,000 budget, a large price to pay for daily delivery of just four major papers (The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Financial Times and USA Today).
But for me and countless other Dartmouth students who are looking to lessen the sense of insularity on this campus, the price is well worth it. Mainstream newspapers allow us to remain "in the know" about non-Dartmouth affairs -- even if we only have time to glance over a few headlines.
