Editor:
When I heard the news (Oct. 26) that the journalism department was going to be cut, I really didn't believe it. But after reading the story "Provost axes statistics and journalism" (Oct. 27), reality hit home. And it hit home hard.
What was truly unbelievable, though, was Provost Sypherd's blatant and nonchalant attitude about the value of student input. And even more unbelievable was that the Provost's decision had already been made more than five months ago!
All I want to know is why did you make the students and faculty wait? Why go through the formality of meetings and forums to hear student, faculty and journalism alumni input when you weren't really listening in the first place?
I am not going to waste any more time complaining about the Provost's decision. As far as I am concerned, he has proved to me that he does not value students nor is he concerned with making this a "user-friendly" university. If I seem to be taking a lot of offense at this decision, it is only because I graduated from this university more than a year ago with a degree in journalism. Now I have to travel to that other university in Tempe to start my graduate studies. Let me also state for the record that I HAVE A JOB! And you know what else? I am not spending my time in a position that has nothing to do with my degree like many other graduates I know. The journalism department "vocationally oriented" me for my job and they did it well.
So if the Provost is going to "axe" the journalism department because the "program is too vocationally oriented to be commensurate with a research institution" (i.e. you have a degree but it doesn't mean anything because you are trained to do a specific job), would the university please do me the favor of paying my student loan? You know, it's redundant with the deficit, too few students ever really pay them off, and its not commensurate with my salary.
Crystal Renfrow
Information Specialist, Assistant Agricultural
Communications/ Computer Support
Journalism Graduate '93