University of Colorado mulls shutting down journalism school

The University of Colorado at Boulder is considering discontinuing its School of Journalism and Mass Communications “for strategic and budgetary reasons,” the state’s flagship university has announced. At a news conference, university officials were at pains to emphasize that no decision had yet been made and that an exploratory committee has been appointed to study creating “a new academic unit that will draw on existing strengths to prepare students for an ever-changing communications and media marketplace.”
Interim Provost Russell Moore raised the possibility that the exploratory committee, may recommend “sweeping changes” from the present journalism program. Some 30 other “peer” schools -- including Wisconsin, Cornell, Rutgers and UC Berkeley – have implemented radically different programs to address technology’s impact on mass communication, Moore said.