UPDATE: Journo Majors Gone With the Wind at U. Colo.

Image via WikipediaUniversity of Colorado Regents voted 5-4 this week to shut the university's journalism school, the first college to suffer such a fate in the University's history.

College President Bruce Benson backed the move to turn off the lights at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication June 30 (see "TUOL" posts 2/22/11, 8/26/10). Henceforth, students may pursue a double major in journalism and another subject or receive a certificate or minor in journalism, but no longer will be able to receive a bachelor's degree in journalism alone, reports the Boulder Daily Camera. 

UPDATE: Univ. of Colorado 'Buffaloes' Journalism Majors

Image via WikipediaBecoming a journalism major may not be a "Boulder" option if the recommendation of an exploratory panel is adopted by the University of Colorado, the college paper, The Boulder Daily Camera, reports.

Chancellor Phil DiStefano said journalism as a stand-alone major at the school may end after 2012.  Although the school continues to recruit would-be journalists from high school, the evolving media and budget cuts may result in closure of the School of Journalism & Mass Communication ("SJMC"). [See "TUOL" post 8/26/10.]

The exploratory panel advocates creating a school of information, communication and media technology, along with an Institute for the Global Digital Future that would, the panel's report suggested: "engage and advance the transformative potentials generated at the intersections of information, communication, media and technology." The goal, if nothing else, dramatically illustrates the difference between academic prose and journalistic writing.

Although a journalism major may not be available to enrollees after Fall 2012, the course of study may still be pursued as a minor or as part of a double-major, according to the Daily Camera story. Presently, 1 in 6 journalism students at SJMC opts for a double-major.

University of Colorado has never shut down an entire college in its history, though it has abandoned degree programs in the past.

U. Colo. May Shutter J-School

Image via WikipediaThe Boulder Daily Camera reports that the Univ. of Colorado may pull the plug on its traditional School of Journalism and Mass Communication ("SJMC").

The University's j-school presently enrolls 647undergrads, 58 master's students and 26 doctoral candidates in its journalism program. The SJMC boasts 28 full-time faculty members, and approximately 30 instructors and 13 staffers. Were the regents to vote to shut down the SJMC, tenured faculty who did not retire or resign would have to be re-assigned to another academic department and retrained if necessary, but adjuncts would likely experience layoffs.

The Daily Camera reports that Chancellor Phil DiStefano has officials reviewing the school under the regents' discontinuance policy.  In any case,the school would remain open until current journalism enrollees complete their degree programs.

Under consideration is a restructuring that would better prepare students for workplace entry into digital journalism. The SJMC's external advisory committee has recommended closing the school and shifting some of its programs to the Alliance for Technology, Learning & Society Institute to further that goal. Also under study is merging the j-school with other disciplines to open a broader "school of information."