Founding father Thomas Jefferson had a love-hate relationship with newspapers. Early in the days of the fledging American experiment, Jefferson saw the great need for an open press — even with its flaws — as a way to inform the public.

He wrote in 1787:

“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

A few years later and after being criticized by a number of newspaper editors across the country, his tune changed a bit. In 1807 he wrote:

“The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them.”

Jefferson may have been simply upset at being politically scathed by the country’s newspapers.

If Jefferson had the option to eliminate newspapers during his presidency, perhaps he would have done just that, thus muting his critics.

While we do not personally know Delta State University President William LaForge, we expect he’s not much of a true statesman, at least not in Jefferson’s league.

LaForge, presumably upset over the school newspaper’s coverage of a lawsuit filed by an ousted DSU administrator, opted to take matters into his own hands.

He plans to eliminate both the school’s journalism program and the printed student newspaper. He’s done so with proposed funding cuts in the school’s budget.

His efforts depend upon the approval of Mississippi Institutes of Higher Learning Board that is expected to consider his plan later this week.

We urge the IHL board to stand on the side of openness and nix his plan.