The future of the journalism school will be decided soon

University of Colorado President Bruce Benson is urging the regents to vote on weather to shut down the journalism school. The Board of Regents will meet this Thursday and Friday at the Anschutz Medical Campus, where a final decision might be made.

Benson recommendation is consistent with the “Journalism Plus” program proposed by Chancellor Phil DiStefano. The program would allow students to earn a journalism degree, however it must be in addition to another major.

Assistant Dean of the journalism school, Steve Jones is in agreement with Benson in that a decision needs to be made sooner than later.

“I’ve been talking to them since the day after they announced the discontinuance proposal. It’s really important that if the board approves the discontinuance, we won’t lose students along the process and lose an admissions cycle, so that students will be able to apply by October 1st for spring admission in the new departmental structure," Jones said.

Jones believes that the decision will not have a negative impact on current journalism students and that the decision will only affect future students being admitted into the major.

“So we figured out that a student can do the Arts & Sciences core, a journalism major, a major in something like political science, and a TAM minor and still do all of that within a 120 to 125 hours,” said Jones.

The closure would save CU about $500,000 a year, however Benson said his decision is quality-driven, and not based on the budget.

This would be the first time an entire school has gone through the complete process of discontinuance.

Ultimately, closure of the school requires approval from the Board of Regents and according to university officials, the final decision could come as soon as Friday’s meeting.