Dr. Calvin White, provost of A-State-Jonesboro since July 1, 2023, spoke to the Kiwanis Club of Greater Jonesboro on Nov. 29, 2023. During a question-and-answer session, he was asked about the university’s journalism program. Following is a transcript of his response.
I walked in and that was one of the first meetings I took. …
The reality of it is that our journalism and creative media department knew for seven years that those enrollments were dropping. And there were repeated times that we had to put forth justifications to allow them. The State of Arkansas through the Department of Higher Education has certain graduation requirements that each department, each academic program has to meet. It’s not something they impose on Arkansas State. It’s something they impose on every institution in the state. It’s all the same.
Typically, what happened is when they were below their mandatory number they had to graduate, we could make an argument, we could make a justification, and they would allow that program to move forward. This particular time they did not.
My colleagues knew of the problems they were having with journalism and creative media. 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. That was not a decision that we made. That was a decision that was made by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and they followed a rule that they have had. And we — myself and my colleagues — did not live up to that standard. And they took action on that.
Is the journalism department on our campus dead? … It is not dead. And if it dies, that is a choice internally that the people who live and work, your colleagues, have made not to work together. Because the Arkansas Department of Higher Education has told us that we can repackage it. They come together, they work together, because they’ve got to control their curriculum, and … repackage this degree and send it back. And journalism lives on.
But what the chancellor and I have said is we cannot force them to the table and make them work together when they refuse to work together. So that is an internal choice that some of those colleagues are making. …I have faith that my colleagues one day will sit down, and that it will come together for the viability of the historic and important program.
This becomes our culture: There was a practice that we don’t have to address those numbers. We just put forth the argument … that these are viable programs when they are not.
There is an avenue for us to bring the journalism program back. I need the people who are directly at the center to be willing players and come to the table. It’s not dead. And if it dies, permanently … it is a decision that the journalism and creative media people made in not coming to the table and work together.
Alumni could help me. The alumni could come to the table and say, “Stop it.” … Professors control the curriculum. We don’t.