23 Jun 08 Columbia, CUNY get cash for new media programs
From SPJ’s Classrooms & Newsrooms:
The graduate journalism schools at Columbia University and the City University of New York will improve their new-media programs with a total of $8-million in grants from the Tow Foundation, the charity announced today.
Columbia will receive $5-million, and CUNY $3-million. Under the terms of the grants, Columbia must garner an additional $10-million in donations within 18 months, and CUNY must raise enough to double its grant. Leonard Tow, a co-founder of the foundation, said the grants were a response to his “serious concerns about what is happening in the world of journalism.”
While I think it is great that programs like those at Columbia and CUNY (home of Jeff Jarvis) are receiving donor funds for new media programs, I am also disheartened that it is only these elite programs that seem to receive these influxes of cash (if I’m wrong someone show me some links). Not everyone can afford to go to Columbia, NYU or CUNY.
Furthermore, why only graduate programs? Aren’t undergrad journalism programs just as deserving of money toward teaching new media as grad programs? To that one might say that undergrad programs teach the fundamentals and grad programs are where you learn more advanced journalism skills. Well, that’s debatable. Looking at the course descriptions at both Columbia and CUNY for their M.A. programs, many of the courses are basics (reporting I, editing I, ethics, law).
While I understand that many people who go to a graduate-level J-school have undergrad degrees in other disciplines, what about us folks that want to continue our journalism education but already have a B.A. in journalism? Why force us to repeat and basically negate what we spent four years earning?
OK, sorry for the journalism education rant. My point is that funding for new media and new media education should not be exclusive for graduate programs, especially the elite graduate programs. Some of the best journalists in history, and some great ones I know personally, went to smaller and less well-known schools. I imagine this is an issue across many majors and not relegated strictly to journalism but hey, I’m speaking to what I know about.
Point blank: More money for journalism schools! Eh, in a perfect world right?
[/END JOURNALISM RANT]
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Just for the record, CUNY is a state-supported school and it costs about $7500/year to go there versus about $45000 at Columbia and NYU. CUNY’s is the only publicly supported graduate school of journalism in the Northeast. that was a major reason behind the university’s decision to start it.
Hmmm, well in that case who knows, I might be walking those halls someday.
I meant no offense and also didn’t mean to imply that those schools weren’t deserving of money, I just wish every j-school was getting the funding it needed.
Thanks Jeff!