There are 300 journalism majors in the Department of Communication. The number of students declaring journalism as their major is increasing, but unfortunately, the amount of faculty has not.

The student-to-teacher ratio within the journalism program is about 29 students per teacher. With most classes being capped off at 20 students per section, a lot of students cannot get into courses they need to graduate. Even more frustrating for journalism majors is that there is only one section offered for all courses except JOUR 200 (Basic Newswriting) and JOUR 312 (Graphics of Communication). Four-hundred-level journalism courses cap off at about 40 students, but again, only one section is offered for each.

There are currently no entrance guidelines or restrictions for those wishing to become journalism majors. Students interested in declaring communication as their major must apply to do so, and these students must have at least a 2.5 GPA to be accepted.

When students interested in communication are turned away, many of them declare journalism as their major, instead. This is creating a huge problem for those who are truly interested in journalism, because those not interested simply clutter the available courses. This forces students to spend more time and money on another semester – or two – and makes it harder for them to graduate within four years.

The small number of faculty members for journalism courses not only brings stress on the students, but also on the teachers. The journalism area only has one tenure-track faculty member, one instructor, one adjunct faculty member and three teachers who are considered supportive professional staff (SPS). The area is currently looking to hire one or two more faculty members. That will give us a grand total of … seven teachers for 300 majors.

Compare those numbers to some other departments within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Of 28 faculty members in the biology department, 27 are tenure-track. Sixteen of the 26 faculty members in the sociology department are tenure-track and nine of the 12 faculty members in the geography department are tenure-track.

We ask that Christopher McCord, new dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, focus on bringing more faculty members and offering more class sections for journalism majors. NIU is supposed to be taking care of all majors, but after the first or second day of registration, most journalism classes are already filled. Students are left with little or no options.

The journalism field is constantly evolving, even more than it has in past decades due to the Internet and technological advances. More teachers are needed to continue this evolution, because right now, journalism majors are being robbed.