Curriculum for J school freshmen changes

The school now suggests non-Walter Williams students do not take a journalism course their first semester.

By Steve Cassidy

Published Sept. 21, 2010

This fall, 25 new interest areas were introduced to the School of Journalism and the lower division curriculum requirements were changed.

According to the new guidelines, the Career Explorations in Journalism course was made optional, and Fundamentals of Multimedia Journalism was added.

Additionally, J school freshmen aren’t set up to take any journalism specific classes until their second semester. This leaves four classes to be taken within the final three semesters before a student enters their interest area.

“There is a GPA requirement to get into J1100,” J school Senior Academic Adviser Jill McReynolds said. “We want to make sure freshmen students meet that requirement before they start taking journalism classes.”

The drawback to such a change is that the four required journalism classes for freshmen are to be taken over three semesters. Some students see this as a tough scheduling conflict.

“I wanted to take another course, but now with the new requirements I have to take two J school classes, back-to-back instead,” freshman Dylan Heldman said.

Some freshmen students said they feel disconnected with the J school because they are being used as test subjects for the course guidelines. A few students said it was unfair of the J school to force such a workload on them.

“I don’t think it’s going to be easy cramming two or three major courses into a semester,” freshman Marcus Jackson said. “It’s not right that this decision was made without any input from us.”

McReynolds stressed the guidelines are simply that, guidelines. Students are not required to follow them, but it is highly recommended.

“What some students don’t take into account, is that they don’t necessarily have to take all the lower level classes in three semesters,” she said. “There is also the option of taking one or more in the summer semester, so there are options to spread them out.”

McReynolds said freshmen enrollment in the fall semester for J1100 consists only of Walter Williams Scholars.

Some freshmen said they weren’t aware of their different options.

“We’re just a bunch of confused freshmen,” freshman Courtney Watkins said. “We aren’t going to challenge the system, and what they recommend we do in our first semester on campus. It’s already hard enough figuring out what to do.”

FIG leader Ben Stewart said the new guidelines are different from when he was a freshman.

“I remember getting to the university and being excited that I could jump into what my major was, right away,” he said.

Stewart said he hasn’t heard many complaints from the students in his FIG.

“I don’t know that the majority of freshman students are aware of the changes,” Stewart said.