Welcome Back

Indiana Nash, Editor-in-Chief
Welcome back everyone! As this semester began, I started to think about where the State Times should go, what it should accomplish and what its goals should be. What should a student-run newspaper bring to the campus? I quickly realized that I wasn’t even entirely sure what the purpose of any newspaper was anymore. In a day and age where everything is available through the click of a button on our phones, laptops or flat screens: why even have newspapers? Why spend the time to read through articles when you could just read the bylines off of the Internet?
At first this thought put a bit of a damper on my outlook. But then I really began to think about all that a newspaper is capable of. Newspapers have the power to bring attention to issues on campus and around the area in a more powerful way than social media can. Print is a venue wherein students can express and expand upon their views to an audience greater than their “friends” or “followers” on any social media site. At the collegiate level, a student-run newspaper especially maintains that ability. Those who work for and write for the paper are, in a way, voices of the college and are trying to create the best college environment they can.
Newspapers also have the ability to build a community. When you’re sitting in the dining hall, the local coffee shop, or on the bus, you don’t talk about the material those around you are reading off the tiny screens in their palms. A conversation begins when you see another student reading about the latest win that SUNY Oneonta’s tennis team had, or the new parking situation on campus, or a fellow student’s editorial on the history of twerking. Newspapers give students a common ground or a common interest, something to connect with one another.
Another way a student-run newspaper maintains its relevance is the fact that it can take on as much or as little power as students decide to give it. Students looking to make a change in the world or even on campus can turn to a publication that is hoping to do just that. Print gives a platform to those who see a situation or problem and believe they can do something to improve or change it. The State Times constitution claims that some of its goals are “To present accurate and unbiased news of concern to the students of the State University College at Oneonta and to provide the student body the opportunity to express their views on issues concerning them in an open forum of letters to the editor.” So for this semester and for those that follow, I hope that this newspaper will always be that platform for students and will be something to come together on.