University of Colorado Regents got an earful from Boulder’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s professors and former students.
Public comments at Tuesday’s Regents meeting were as much about the school’s individual struggles as the future of journalism. Citing budget woes and the ever changing media landscape, CU initiated the discontinuance process last August. But it’s been confusing, and according to Len Ackland, co-director of the school’s Center for Environmental Journalism, anything but transparent.
“From the get-go I haven’t known whether or not the process was intended to strengthen journalism or to kill it,” he said.
Last week Chancellor Phil DiStefano released a public letter suggesting that a standalone bachelor’s degree in journalism no longer be offered after the fall of 2012. The Regents will discuss the discontinuance process Wednesday morning. But they won’t be making a decision anytime soon. They’re waiting for a recommendation from President Bruce Benson, who has until mid April.
