At noon on Tuesday, I walk into the Mudd Field entrance of the Danforth University Center to grab a copy of The New York Times, only to find one piece of the science section of the paper absently disregarded on the shelf that claims to hold numerous copies of the Times. Frustratingly, I head to Bauer Hall to satisfy my yearnings for intellectual print media only to find another empty shelf. From Bauer Hall to Whispers to Edison Hall to Seigle Hall, I am left empty-handed.

I shouldn’t be stripped of my access to print news by a college that claims to be in the top 20 at providing a liberal arts education, and yet I am unable to get The New York Times if I don’t get to Danforth Campus before 10 a.m. every day. There should not be a culture of indifference regarding student access to the printed page. Some people suggest turning to online news sources. But while I understand that online news is more environmentally friendly, I find that I, and most college students I know, are left skimming the headlines when forced to read online. Beyond that, the algorithms behind websites like The New York Times limit my interests by my past clicks, displaying articles with titles that are clickbait or that play into my pre-established intellectual passions. That information is analyzed and spit back at me when I load the front page the following day.

On Monday, I picked up the paper and on the front page was an article about the political chaos and devastating health crisis happening in Haiti, but on my online newsfeed there was not a peep about this issue, only articles about Trump-this or Ukraine-that. Keeping up to date on Trump and the impeachment is important, but broadening my scope of interest in world affairs is necessary. I hope, perhaps I am pleading, that Washington University uses a minuscule part of its almost $9 billion endowment to pay for a few more $7/week New York Times subscriptions. And, because I cannot find The New York Times anywhere in St. Louis—be it in a coffee shop, gas station, bookstore or library—maybe, if I can dream, the University can even extend its delivery of the paper to the weekends.