Students are putting their classroom skills to the test as they campaign for support following the latest round of course cuts at The U of M. In a meeting Friday afternoon, five affected public relations students aired their concerns with provost Ralph Faudree and dean of the college of communication and fine arts Richard Ranta.
The elimination of two senior-level public relations courses has left students with the choice of taking the courses online or waiting until the spring 2006 semester to complete their degrees.
Faudree said his office has not made any directives to begin making cuts for next year.
"Every year in the spring, we ask department chairs and deans to look at their budgets and consider shifting money to different areas," Faudree said. "At this stage, we have no information at all about our budget for next year."
The 40 percent reduction in the journalism department's part-time instructor funding has left some students, planning to graduate in December, angry about the remaining option of online study.
"I'd encourage students to make their case and allow us to react to that," Faudree said Friday. "We do make adjustments to the schedule."CCFA dean Richard Ranta said he was not even aware that senior-level public relations classes had been cut. The two courses, public relations case studies (JOUR 4420) and public relations campaigns (JOUR 4440), are both sequence requirements in the journalism major with a public relations concentration.
"There are other alternatives for these courses with the Regents Online Degree Program," Ranta said. "There are other ways for these requirements to be met."
U of M students attending Friday's meeting had strong reservations about taking either course online.
"This is not an intro to PR class," said Britt Cross, senior public relations student. "Before we go out into the workforce, it's essential that we have an instructor in class for this course because of the group work required."
Another affected student is primarily concerned about learning the course content in an online versus classroom environment.
"Our advisors have told us that we're going to miss key elements taking these classes online," said Clay Thompson, public relations major. "I'd like to finish up my education here at The U of M, not in a chat room."
In addition to the extra $192 that online classes cost in comparison to traditional sections, many students have attempted the courses and been unsatisfied with the formats and instruction.
"So many of us have attempted the online classes and dropped them," Cross said.
Public relations students who have come this far in the program now feel like their lives are on hold, said Melanie George in Friday's meeting with administrators.
Dean Ranta was supportive of journalism chair Jim Redmond's actions regarding the elimination of the two sections.
"Jim's decision in this instance was rational because there were other alternatives for satisfying coursework," Ranta said. "Now that I'm aware of this problem, we're concerned and we're going to try to find a solution."
It's good for us to hear your concerns, he said.
Faudree said reductions in part time faculty budgets stem from a University "objective to increase interaction between full-time faculty and students. We think that's a better way to go."
"Our highest priority is trying to meet the needs of the students and graduating them in a timely way," Faudree said.
The costs of hiring two adjunct, part-time instructors for the two course sections would be around $4,000.
During a demonstration outside the administration building Monday, students said they were considering raising the money on their own.
"We've talked about raising the money, about $2,000 per adjunct professor, ourselves," said Rick Heiserman, senior public relations major. "We're in the works of possibly doing that later this week."Asked about the possibility of students raising money on their own to pay for instructors on top of tuition fees, Heiserman said, "It would probably be a little embarrassing for The University."
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