Students lined the walls of a Shillman Hall classroom last Wednesday to hear a columnist from Newsday comment on today’s media.

Despite a lack of program funding, the communication studies department was able to bring Ellis Henican to campus free of charge.

“One of the purposes in obtaining recognizable names is that it attracts attention,” said David Marshall, chair of the communication studies department. “The kind of level of people we want are ones connected in the industry or major people in the academic field.”

In the past few years, the communication studies department has sponsored the senior seminar public lecture series, which Marshall said has been running on more or less of a “shoe-string budget.”

The communication studies department does not have an operating budget and therefore has to pull money from wherever it can be found. Some of the money for speakers that have already visited Northeastern has come from grants or co-sponsorships with other departments or clubs.

Students and professors alike said they were pleased with the speech Henican gave last week. Some in attendance said they would like to see more speakers from the communications field in the future.

“I would definitely go to more speakers,” said Jonathan Bragg, a freshman communication studies major. “The speakers [we do have] come in for basically next to free, so the department needs more money to bring in more speakers.”

The communication studies department has not officially put in a request for more money because they are basing the program on its success this year. However, Marshall said he would like to see money to accommodate for the flights, overnight accommodations and reception dinners at Northeastern for two or three speakers each semester.

“We definitely have a connection to the wider community industry, and the students have a major interest in seeing a variety of different media and community people,” Marshall said.