By Cara Miller

Arizona Daily Wildcat

In an effort to reduce enrollment in the Media Arts department, the Faculty Senate voted yesterday to raise the minimum grade point average for majors from 2.25 to 2.5.

After considering alternative measures such as a lottery system, the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee recommended raising the minimum grade point average to reduce enrollment from 620 students to a target enrollment of 450.

ÒThere is a real dilemma here. The department does not have the resources to deal with the students who are knocking at the door,Ó said Faculty Chairman J.D. Garcia.

Still, some faculty members fear the effects of this increase could cause an influx of students into related

ÒThere has been a fear that students will go to communication or journalism, which will in turn raise their (the other departments) requirements,Ó said Billy Jo Inman, English professor and committee chairwoman.

But faculty in the Journalism department are not worried.

Unless media arts students have a news interest, they probably will not pursue a journalism degree, said James Johnson, an associate journalism professor.

ÒJournalism isnÕt a place to send students who canÕt make minimum grade requirements. ItÕs tough enough for students

~mid~ who truly want to be journalists,Ó said Jim Patten, head of the department.

The measure will be effective for all media arts students in the fall of 1995, regardless of the catalog under which students were admitted.

Media arts professors said they are relieved.

ÒThis is a facilities intensive department, and our facilities just werenÕt adequate for the amount of students we have,Ó said Alfonso Moises, a media arts professor. Read Next Article