Future
journalists may need to look outside of Iowa
City for their professional studies, as the
University of Iowa School of Journalism and
Mass Communication announced it will be cutting
one of its two master's programs. That's unfortunate
for the University of Iowa, its students, the
media and all who rely on quality reporting,
but it does provide opportunities for other
universities, namely Iowa State. In addition,
this change may push all of Iowa's state universities
to succeed through specialization rather than
competing with each other by alluring students
in similar areas of study.
Even so, the way this all played out certainly
leaves the University of Iowa with ink in its
eye. According to an article in the Iowa City
Press Citizen, the Accrediting Council on Education
in Journalism and Mass Communication found both
the undergraduate program and the professional
master's program to be out of compliance. The
council issued a "provisional accreditation"
for the undergraduate program and completely
pulled the accreditation for the professional
master's program. As a result, Iowa will no
longer accept applications for professional
master's studies and will end the program when
current students finish.
Programs don't lose their accreditation easily,
and those responsible for implementing the necessary
change deserve criticism, especially knowing
that the Accrediting Council expressed similar
concerns six years prior and little was done
to correct the problems. The primary stated
reasons, according to the Press Citizen article,
were a lack of graduate programs and an insufficient
number of students.
This may be a sign of the times, with college
professors continually telling students that
traditional media — namely print — is dead and
to search for other career choices. Anyone with
a computer and Internet access can also be a
journalist, blogging and tweeting to report
the news. All they need is someone willing to
pay them for it.
The writing is on the wall, as Iowa's undergraduate
program will likely lose its accreditation in
time as well. Those with journalism degrees
from the University of Iowa are embarrassed
by this fiasco, and understandably so. Meanwhile,
what's done is done. The University of Iowa
needs to move forward by focusing on programs
it excels in and clear the way for other state
universities to do the same. CV |
