Condensed version

The following is a condensed version of a series on a state board’s order to end the journalism degree at Arkansas State University.

By Roy Ockert Jr.

Journalism education at Arkansas State University, rooted in the 1930s, is sick but not dead.

That’s the conclusion one can reach from an intensive review of what has happened to the bachelor’s degree program that has produced many outstanding journalists, broadcasters and communicators. The review included a study of related documents obtained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, as well as interviews with students, faculty and others.

ASU-Jonesboro Chancellor Dr. Todd Shields is waiting for faculty action but said the university will have a journalism program.

Beginning with the past fall semester, no ASU student could start an undergraduate major in journalism. Eighteen students who had previously declared a major in multi-media journalism are being allowed to complete their degrees.

The decision to end ASU’s undergraduate degree program in journalism came April 28 during a meeting of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The board is charged with coordinating higher education in Arkansas’ publicly supported institutions colleges and universities. In 2010 new academic program productivity standards were adopted. Department of Higher Education staff members each year identify academic programs failing to meet certain standards for viability.

For bachelor’s degree programs an average of six graduates per year is considered the minimum. Programs that don’t meet the minimum over three years go on a nonviable list. A program then has two years to meet the standard, or it will be considered for deletion.

Mason Campbell, ADHE assistant commission of academic affairs, reported to the board in April that 16 programs should be deleted (an accompanying chart listed 17). Nine were ASU-Jonesboro programs, including multi-media journalism, and another four were ASU-Three River programs.

The minutes indicate that the board had no questions and approved the report unanimously. Ironically, the board chairman presiding was Graycen Bigger of Pocahontas, a 2009 A-State photojournalism graduate. Moving to approve the report was Al Brodell of Jonesboro, who went off the board in May.

The full report showed that the multi-media journalism program averaged only 4.3 graduates per year from 2020-22. Only in 2021 did it hit the minimum of six. Its student major count declined from 59 to 36 over that period.

Dr. Brad Rawlins, who had been director of the ASU School of Media and Journalism until becoming interim dean in June, said in a recent interview that he did not know the program was in danger until receiving an April 5 email from Dr. William McLean, ASU’s associate vice chancellor for faculty relations, setting a meeting on April 19 to discuss the programs identified as nonviable.

Two days afterward Rawlins produced talking points “to justify our current MMJ program” and sent them to McLean. On April 26 Dr. Lillie Fears, professor of multi-media journalism and coordinator of the program, sent a similar list. They thought ASU would be able to defend the program at the board meeting. That was not the case.

In fact, A-State officials had missed the opportunity to defend programs on the list by several months. The FOIA request for related documents showed that Campbell on Nov. 10, 2022, sent a copy of the 2022 Viability Report for ASU institutions to Dr. Alan Utter, then ASU provost (chief academic officer). The deadline for comment was Dec. 16, and three earlier question-and-answer sessions via Zoom were set.

Copies went to various ASU-Jonesboro and ASU System officials.

When McLean asked ADHE in February for a copy of ASU’s response to the 2021 viability report, which also showed the MMJ program in trouble, he was told the department had no record of an ASU response.

Last March McLean provided comments on the listed ASU programs in a tab for that purpose on a list of nonviable programs. For multi-media journalism it was noted: “While enrollment has declined over recent years, incoming new freshmen increased by 50 percent last year. Further, curricular revisions being considered to increase enrollments. Additionally, the journalism program fits the mission of the university to enrich the lives and be a catalyst for progress in Arkansas, particularly the Delta region. Through Delta Digital News Service, the journalism program is addressing the need of news deserts that are growing in the Delta region.”

McLean, interim Provost Dr. Len Frey and Shields sat in on the board meeting via Zoom. One or more system representatives attended in person, according to Jeff Hankins, vice president for strategic communications.

A breakdown in internal communications may have been due at least in part to transition within the ASU administration. 

In the fall of 2022 Shields was in his first semester as chancellor. Utter resigned as provost on Nov. 30, effective at the end of the semester. Frey, appointed interim provost on Jan. 10, continued as chief operating officer. McLean was in his first year in a newly created position. Dr. Carl Cates resigned March 10 as dean of the college, effective June 30.

Administrative changes continued even after April 28. Rawlins became interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Communications in June, and Associate Dean Dr. Gina Hogue took on additional duties as interim director of the School of Media and Journalism, although her academic qualifications are in social studies. Fears was to be on sabbatical in the fall and was little involved in discussions over the summer.

“We were shocked, absolutely shocked when we got cut,” Rawlins said in a Dec. 1 interview. “I had never seen anything to indicate this was coming [until the April 5 call for a meeting]. I told the chancellor this is a big concern. There is no way we can go forward without journalism.”

Prior to the April 5 email, Rawlins said, he and other faculty members had been working on a response to an ASU internal study that challenged the viability of two mass communications master’s degree programs of the school — journalism and radio-television. Both received low viability scores and were recommended for a merger.

The program's history

A bachelor of science degree in journalism was added to the A-State catalog in the fall of 1934, and a radio journalism curriculum was started in 1953. Four years later the Department of Radio, Journalism and Printing was established.

The College of Communications was founded in 1973, and a fall 1974 alumni publication reported the college had 296 students majoring in the three degree programs. That included 150 in broadcasting, 116 in journalism and 30 in printing. That year L.W. “Tex” Plunkett, founder of the journalism program, retired.

Soon sequences were added allowing journalism majors to specialize in public relations, advertising or community journalism, and later in photojournalism. Master’s programs in journalism and radio-TV were started in 1979.

By the fall of 1989 the number of majors had grown to 598 — 307 in radio-TV and 243 in journalism. Much of the journalism growth came from students pursuing PR and advertising specializations.

In 1999 ASU reported that 2,237 students had earned degrees in communications, of which 943 were in radio-TV and 918 were in journalism. But the number of majors in the college had started declining slowly as technology began affecting all fields of communications.

The first of many administrative reorganization attempts came in 1998 with a proposal to merge the College of Communications with the larger College of Fine Arts. That effort failed, but the Department of Speech was moved into Communications.

Two longtime leaders — Dr. Joel Gambill, head of the journalism and printing department, and Dr. Russ Shain, dean of the college — retired in 2010. About the same time Dr. Les Wyatt stepped down as university president, opening the door to several administrative changes. Eventually, Rawlins was hired from Brigham Young University to be the dean of the college.

In his second year as dean, 2013, Rawlins proposed a dramatic reorganization. Alumni learned about it only three days before it was to be presented to the Board of Trustees. After fielding a litany of questions and objections, Rawlins asked the provost to table the restructuring resolution.

A special joint meeting of the Journalism-Public Relations and Broadcasting advisory boards, comprised of professionals, mostly alumni, was called to explain the proposal and gather input.

Under a new name, the College of Media and Communication was reorganized it into a Department of Media and a Department of Communication, thus dropping the journalism identification. Broadcast and print journalism curricula were merged into a new degree program called multi-media journalism (dropping the broadcast identification) — ostensibly to address technology advances.

The Department of Media also included a degree in media production, combining production areas of audio, video, digital, graphic communication and the Web. The Department of Communication included a new major called strategic communication, separating advertising and public relations from journalism, and communications studies, essentially the old speech program.

One expressed purpose for reorganization was that the number of undergraduate majors had declined from 377 in 2003 to 271 in 2012. Journalism had shrunk from 216 majors to 129, and radio-TV from 173 to 119. Only 24 journalism students were specializing in news-editorial or photojournalism, 47 in PR or advertising. Broadcast journalism majors numbered 46.

Faculty and alumni were opposed, but then-Chancellor Tim Hudson and then-Provost Lynita Cooksey favored the plan, and a month later it was presented unchanged to the ASU Board of Trustees and passed without comment.

Only two years later (2015) the administration was back with another reorganization. Presented as a cost-saving plan, it combined three colleges — Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Media and Communication.

There was little enthusiasm for the plan. One faculty member said that the college had “suffered greatly from the restructuring that we have already done and our identity has been lost.” Rawlins became interim dean of the new college, but within a year he had taken a new position at Campus Queretaro in Mexico.

Hudson left the ASU campus in disgrace in 2016 and was replaced in May 2017 by Dr. Kelly Damphousse, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, which housed the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, one of the best in the nation.

After becoming dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Communications, Cates pushed to revive the journalism program and found a willing ally in Damphousse.

Saying the university was responding to the wishes of alumni and needs of future students, Damphousse presented a resolution to the Board of Trustees in December 2018, calling for the creation of a School of Media and Journalism within the college. It was approved unanimously.

“The dissolution of this college has resulted in challenges with program identity and program growth. …” Cates told a reporter. “The old college needs to be re-attached so as to function the best we can. It makes sense for this to help restore the program’s visibility. Interested students can find the program.”

However, a significant piece of the former College of Communications was left out of the new school structure. The strategic communications program, comprised of advertising, public relations and social media management, remained in the college’s Department of Communication. Advertising and PR had originally been part of the journalism degree program, and there were still many connections.

Rawlins, back from the Mexican campus, was named interim director in May 2019 and a year became permanent director.

The competition

While ASU’s programs have struggled, the School of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Arkansas, a major competitor, has thrived. UA offers a degree with concentrations in journalism, broadcast or multi-media storytelling and production, as well as a major in advertising and public relations.

For the past fall semester the UA School of Journalism and Strategic Media enrolled a total of 828 majors, including 13 graduate students. The advertising-PR major accounted for 452 of the undergraduates, and the three journalism concentrations, a total of 308. Another 66 students were listed as double majors with journalism and political science or English.

To compare A-State’s numbers, you must add strategic communications, which isn’t in the School of Media and Journalism. The total of all three comes to 187 students, plus 34 more in master’s programs. Multi-media journalism accounted for only 11 undergraduates. UA numbers don’t provide a breakdown of the concentrations.

After ASU’s journalism program was axed by the state board last spring, a scramble began to determine what should be done. However, the discussions remained within academic circles. No public announcement was made, nor were the thousands of alumni in the discontinued programs consulted. In fact, the school had made little effort to communicate with alumni in recent years.

Only when a letter to current multi-media majors prompted a news story in the student newspaper did the issue gain public light. 

Hogue began trying to assemble a task force in June, but it was twice scheduled and postponed. Chancellor Shields called a meeting of all school faculty and staff on July 13.

Meeting minutes show that Rawlins urged the faculty to work together to create an integrated journalism and media degree. Shields and the new provost, Dr. Calvin White, both attended, stressing the need for a strong journalism program and faculty collaboration.

Shields said in a December interview that he came out of that meeting hopeful. But days later the Creative Media Production faculty and staff met, and afterward the program coordinator, Dr. Mary Jackson-Pitts, notified Hogue:

• “We are not willing to reimagine or launch a new journalism curriculum with the existing MMJ faculty.

• “We ask that Brad Rawlins be removed from the leadership of the School of Media and Journalism.

• “We have a proposal to establish a broadcast journalism emphasis under the creative media production program.”

Rawlins then wrote to White, suggesting a meeting with the CMP faculty and staff but asking to be recused because “I am obviously a lightning rod … and I don’t think they are willing to consider anything that I might suggest or be in favor of …”

Shields and White were disappointed, and the provost quickly notified Hogue that a funding line for possibly creating a new program would be pulled back and that CMP should not expect support for a broadcast journalism emphasis.

In December Pitts responded to written questions about the CMP faculty’s position, saying it is supportive of a strong, independent journalism program.

“We believe the MMJ faculty should take ownership of creating and designing a curriculum that meets the needs of a 21st century journalist,” she wrote. “They need to work with their own advisory board and assessment data to determine their next steps to reimagine their own program.”

As to the request that Rawlins no longer be director of the school, Pitts explained: “Dr. Rawlins has lost the confidence and trust of members of the CMP faculty. Enrollment has been in steady decline under his leadership.”

She pointed to the 2013 restructuring of the College of Communications and traced a history of actions and inactions that she said are related to the decline of enrollment in print journalism, broadcast journalism and photojournalism.

More than eight months have passed since the state board’s action deleting ASU's multi-media journalism degree, and nothing yet has been done to redesign the program.

Provost White came on board only a couple of weeks before he and Shields met with the School of Media and Journalism faculty. In a Nov. 29 appearance at a meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Jonesboro, he was asked about the journalism situation.

“My colleagues [on the faculty] knew of the problems they were having with journalism and creative media,” he said. “And so it was a lack of response on their part to satisfy the Arkansas Department of Education’s mandatory requirements. … There was no administrator on our campus or in Little Rock who cut the journalism program on our campus.”

“Is the journalism department on our campus dead? … It is not dead,” he said. “And if it dies, that is a choice internally that the people who live and work — your colleagues — have decided not to work together.”

Shields expressed displeasure in the December interview that the faculty had not produced anything in the way of a proposed new program by the end of the fall semester.

In a Nov. 30 letter to alumni of A-State’s journalism and broadcast programs, Shields outlined efforts that had been made to kickstart a new program, pointing out that under the university’s shared governance system the faculty “must develop and approve all curriculum changes.”

“We remain optimistic that the faculty will work together, not only to save a rich and historically strong program, but also for the benefit of our students and university,” Shields wrote.

In the interview he was more explicit about his expectations. “We would prefer that the faculty come together [and produce a program proposal], but if they don’t, we [the administration] will have to make a decision to save it.”

“People would ask about the past history. No, I want to go forward,” he said. “Absolutely, we need strong journalism now, arguably now more than ever. I worry about our democracy without strong journalism.”

“We’re not going to let the program die,” he added. “If we have to step in, we will.”

Shields said he had hoped to have a proposal ready to present to the ASU Board of Trustees in December. That didn’t happen so he has his sights set on some action in spring, even if he has to bring in consultants to get something ready. His goal is to gain the approval of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board in time to have a new program in place for the fall semester.

Ockert, a 1967 A-State journalism graduate and former instructor in the program, is a retired editor of daily newspapers in Batesville, Russellville and Jonesboro. He can be reached at royo@suddenlink.net.