University of Colorado-Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano has recommended that the university’s journalism school be discontinued and its programs realigned.
In a letter to CU President Bruce Benson posted today on CU’s website and dated Jan. 10, DiStefano agreed with the Program Discontinuance Committee’s findings in November that the programs offered in CU’s School for Journalism and Mass Communication be reorganized and offered through other schools.
“I concur with the recommendations of the provost and the Program Discontinuance Committee that some or all of the degree programs currently housed in the SJMC be continued or offered in a revised form under a different administrative structure,” DiStefano wrote in the letter.
DiStefano continued to stress that current journalism majors would be able to earn their degrees.
“The university will continue to honor its commitment to our undergraduate and master’s candidate students currently majoring in journalism and allow them to graduate through their existing academic structure or some new alternative structure,” DiStefano wrote.
One solution that DiStefano proposed in the letter would be letting students interested in journalism pursue a journalism minor or certificate program with their liberal arts degree.
“The university, at the very least, will provide future undergraduate students with an opportunity to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in a liberal arts discipline along with a minor or certification in journalism studies that will prepare them for opportunities in media studies,” DiStefano wrote.
According to CU’s discontinuance policy, Benson now has 60 days to make his recommendations to the Board of Regents.
Mitchell Byars: 303-954-1698 or mbyars@denverpost.com
