By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, News correspondent
This current issue of The Huntington News has multiple pieces addressing the combination of the school of journalism with the department of communication studies and the combination of the music and theater departments. I’m hesitant to say “merging” because according to Dean Xavier Costa, that’s not what is being proposed in the College of Arts, Media and Design (CAMD) strategic plan. According to Costa, the changes wouldn’t affect the curriculum, they would only make changes on an organizational level – whatever that means.
What I do know is that journalism students, for the most part, are absolutely infuriated about these potential changes. They’re also channeling that passionate anger the only way a group of good aspiring reporters would; by organizing meetings with the people contemplating these changes, questioning authoritative decisions and criticizing a lack of transparency.
However, I’m writing not to express my opinions toward the CAMD plan but rather my concern that the perspectives of communication studies students are at risk of being left out of the equation.
It is only natural that journalism students would be more outspoken with their criticism; it’s in our nature. But personally, I’m curious how communication studies students feel about the potential changes.
“It is a good idea for those two fields to be a joint school,” sophomore communications studies major Derrico Peck said. “I think there would be more benefits as a whole but specifically for people who are looking to study journalism. Communication is a key in life.”
Another student I talked to supported the idea, not because of the benefits for journalism students, but because of the potential for a more diverse set of journalism programs.
“Journalism, I feel, is under the umbrella of communications so it only makes sense that the school merges,” middler communications studies major Jazzmin Brooks said. “Maybe now NU will consider a broadcast journalism program, something I wasn’t able to do because they didn’t offer it.”
There are also communication studies students who share the opinions of many Northeastern journalists.
“It’s an interesting merger, but I think the journalism department loses from this by not being their own separate entity,” junior communication studies major Jason Moose said. “Some could see ‘comms’ as being the crutch for the journalism department, but I ultimately hope it’s beneficial to both majors in the future.”
And if these changes are accepted, we all hope that, but it’s also easy to relate to a journalism student in a small department at risk of being absorbed.
The perspectives from these students bring new ideas to the table and probably aren’t things you would hear in an administrative meeting addressed only to journalism students. They make this conversation about the change more diverse and wholesome.
But currently, the much smaller journalism community seems to be the loudest in voicing their concerns.
Whether someone is in favor or against the plan, if this truly is going to be a fair process where all voices are heard, communication students need to start communicating.
-Zolan Kanno-Youngs can be reached at [email protected].
