The “Big Idea”

What if courses in News Literacy could dramatically spread from coast-to-coast to dozens of universities and scores of high schools in the next year?

What if there was a way to fund the growth so that the universities and local school districts, many of them resource-starved, would not have to initially pay any cost?

What if there was a way to marry the growing need for News Literacy education with a pool of experienced professionals who are out-of-work, just waiting to have their talent and passion re-directed into the classroom?

At the concluding session of the conference, Dean Howard Schneider proposed what would become the conference’s “big idea.”

Schneider proposed that the Stony Brook University Center for News Literacy hire 50 to 100 of the most talented out-of-work journalists in the nation, that the Center train the journalists in the university’s News Literacy curriculum and that the Center then partner with 25 universities across the country that would agree to put the News Literacy Fellows on staff for up to two years and create new, undergraduate courses. Further, Schneider proposed, that the project might be funded with stimulus money from Washington.

Schneider explained that the idea derived from an e-mail from Deborah Gump, formerly of Committee of Concerned Journalists, who was not able to attend the conference. In a subsequent e-mail to attendees, Schneider fleshed out the proposal. Here is how it might work:

• Participating universities would choose News Fellows in their own geographic areas and create and approve their own syllabus and administer the program.
• The News Fellows would teach undergraduate courses and help establish training programs for local high school teachers.
• The Stony Brook Center would establish a training program, work with participating institutions to set enrollment targets and create a Web site to act as clearinghouse for timely resources and best practices.
• Preference would be given to colleges and universities that intend to sustain the program after the grant period terminates.

Schneider also indicated that he and his colleagues would be looking for financial support—in the range of $3million to $10million—not only from the government, but from foundations, individuals and corporations.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded the Stony Brook Center a $50,000 planning grant to facilitate the fund-raising efforts.

So far, more than two dozen universities and colleges have committed to participating or expressed strong interest in supporting the initiative.

They include:

Baruch College, CUNY; California State University, Fullerton; Florida Gulf Coast University; Florida International University; Hunter College, CUNY; Louisiana State University; Marquette University; Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts; Penn State; SUNY Plattsburgh; Point Park University; Quinnipiac University; Rutgers University; Syracuse University; Texas State University, San Marcos; University of Idaho; University of Kansas; University of Massachusetts; University of Missouri; University of Montana; University of Nevada, Reno; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; University of South Carolina; University of Southern California; Virginia Commonwealth University

If your institution would like to participate, or to learn more, write directly to Schneider at Howard.Schneider@stonybook.edu.