By APRIL TIMPERLEY
Alumni News staff
It wasn’t just college students who demonstrated in favor of their beliefs in the ’60s and ’70s.
More than 20 years ago, the faculty of the journalism department at NU marched on the chancellor’s office, united in their demand to be separated from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Earlier in the day, R. Neale Copple, director of the journalism department at the time, had met with Max Larsen, dean of Arts and Sciences, and the Arts and Sciences executive committee to discuss tenure. After the committee voted not to allow tenure for a faculty member, the entire journalism faculty decided to take action.
Together, the faculty walked to the chancellor’s office and made a case for separation from the College of Arts and Sciences.
“We all were in agreement on what needed to be done, and we said the same things,” said Jack Botts, coordinator of the news-editorial sequence at the time. “It was off the cuff, but it was very effective.”
Differences between the journalism department and the College of Arts and Sciences over teaching philosophies, teaching credentials and promotion and tenure criteria were the sticking points that eventually prompted the move to make the journalism department a separate unit.
Although the decision to confront Chancellor Roy Young during the 1977-78 school year was prompted by the refusal of tenure, the issue was not new and combined many factors.
“Funding was a part, but the straw that broke the camel’s back was the tenure issue,” Professor George Tuck said.
Copple, now dean emeritus, said the criteria used to evaluate whether an individual would receive tenure — such as service, research and teaching — did not give a fair opportunity for promotion and salary increases in the journalism department where the emphases were different from those in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“Teaching was first in our faculty,” Copple said. “We gave more weight to exceptional teaching than perhaps other units in the university.”
Teaching credentials were another point of contention. Journalism differed from other departments because it emphasized professional experience instead of doctoral degrees and publication in scholarly journals.
The journalism faculty did a lot of writing but did not focus on formal, empirical research, Botts said.
“We were part of Arts and Sciences for many years, of course, and the problem was if you didn’t get a dean of Arts and Sciences who understands journalism,” Botts said, “he or she didn’t understand what we were all about. We did a lot of writing. We wrote all of the time. It wasn’t that we weren’t writing and weren’t being judged by our writing.”
Wilma Crumley, associate dean emeritus of the journalism college, also noted the differences in the educational structure of the journalism department and the College of Arts and Sciences.
“One of the major things, to put this delicately, was the lack of appreciation for the kind of education we wanted, which was a combination of practices, such as the internships, and flexibility — the long labs,” Crumley said.
The educational goals in Arts and Sciences were research-oriented and focused on theoretical aspects whereas the journalism department’s educational goals were designed to teach both theory and practical applications.
In addition to course work outside the journalism department, the degree requirements in the journalism college offer hands-on experience to students. Broadcasting students work with the campus radio station KRNU; news-editorial students produce a lab newspaper, The Journalist; advertising students develop complete advertising campaigns.
The changes demanded by the journalism faculty in forming a separate college gave control over decisions about promotion, tenure, budgeting and educational goals to committees formed by journalism faculty instead of to the Arts and Sciences executive committee.
When the faculty confronted Chancellor Young with its proposal for a break from the college, Young appointed an ad hoc committee to study the faculty’s grievances and recommend a response.
Fearing opposition from the ad hoc committee, the faculty enlisted the help of the media in writing letters and calling the university on the journalism department’s behalf. The response was positive, Copple said.
“I am told the phone (in the chancellor’s office) did not stop ringing for three days,” Copple said of the media’s reaction.
Such an outpouring of support limited the options of the ad hoc committee, Tuck said.
“It was really very, very difficult to do anything other than give us college status,” Tuck said.
When the request moved to the Board of Regents, the vote was unanimous to create a separate School of Journalism with all the rights and privileges of a college, Copple said.
The establishment of the School of Journalism, later renamed the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, led to a whirlwind of other changes that made it clear that the decision to break away from the College of Arts and Sciences was, indeed, the right move.
“It very soon became evident that that’s what we should have done,” Copple said.
One change was an increased opportunity to develop the educational goals that had been a point of contention within the College of Arts and Sciences, Crumley said.
“I think there was a feeling that we could better achieve educational goals that were important for our students, and I think there was a feeling of being together, a close-knit faculty,” Crumley said.
Although many of the changes were not visible, the atmosphere within the School of Journalism was different.
“From within the college, I don’t think most of us could tell the difference, but we had a hell of a lot more pride in what we were doing,” Tuck said.
Although the journalism program already had a strong reputation, the change to an independent School of Journalism brought about national recognition, Copple and Crumley said.
“I think it did lead to national recognition, and the college has maintained it to this time,” Crumley said.
Funding for the journalism program also increased. Private donors, who had previously held back donations because the funds may not have reached the journalism department, supported the School of Journalism with contributions, Copple and Crumley said.
The differences between the College of Arts and Sciences and the department of journalism were finally resolved when an independent School of Journalism was created. Although the circumstances leading up to the eventual split were complicated, the changes enhanced the journalism program at NU.
“It presented a lot of challenges to faculty and students, but I think there is still a feeling of being among the best,” Crumley said.
Photos reprinted from “Half a Century of Education for Journalism: Instruction in Journalism Since 1894 — The School of Journalism Since 1923,” 1944.