An op/ed piece in the May 9, 2008, issue of The Chronicle of Higher Ed suggests that America’s seven wealthiest universities should pool their endowment resources to buy out The New York Times. The commentary is written by Lee Smith, a retired journalist, and he tries to make the case that newspapers, and The New York Times, in particular, are such a critical component of higher education that colleges & universities should “assume responsibility” for their survival (p. A32).

I’m not sure I buy his argument that universities should bail out the struggling newspapers. He asserts that such an effort would “… maximiz[e] intellectual value rather than financial value” and “… help ensure the continuing availability of the kind of information that helps make intellectual life possible.”

Besides my gut instinct that says this is a market condition that needs to right itself rather than undergird a business endeavor with nonprofit funds, I think it would be a conflict of interest for universities to have a financial stake in the news media. Part of the validity of the news is that it is external from the organization.