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`As Editor-in-Chief of The Snapper, I get to see journalism at work. The articles come in, the copy editors do a great job of fixing them up for publication, and the section editors compile them to be printed.
The Snapper is a paper for the students, by the students. The problem we come face-to-face with every day is the lack of journalistic knowledge. This is by no means the students’ fault. The program supposedly provided for us is hardly in any shape for students to follow.
The Print Media Studies minor is a shell of what print journalism truly is. I only know this because of hearsay since the courses have a ridiculous prerequisite of 60 credits. That is usually the second semester of junior year.
Why does it have a limit when you can begin your major the first semester of your freshman year? Committing to a minor and getting stuck with it your junior year isn’t fair.
Sophomore year is when most students decide on their major and follow it through for the rest of their college career. Minors should be open to sophomores just the same, so we get a taste of the course loads.
Freshman year is our time to become accustomed to college life and how to handle courses. Beginning the concentration sophomore year just makes sense.
Aside from the prerequisite, where are the classes? Courses get canceled or changed moments before registration or two are at the same time. I know of a few students who have to get exceptions just to graduate on time. Again, if they had an extra year to configure their schedules, they could gain the most out of their minors.
This brings us to the ultimate question: Why isn’t there a full-time staff member who can head the minor? We only have two adjunct professors to teach the entire program. The Writing Studies program has six tenured or tenure-tracked professors who are Writing Studies specialists. If they are specialists in writing, why can’t they teach a journalism class?
I realize differences exist between the styles, but shouldn’t a specialist be trained in all forms?