Stony Brook to Offer First SUNY Journalism Major

By Matthew Weinberger
Staff Writer

Stony Brook University is preparing to add an accredited journalism major to its list of academic programs as early as the fall of next year, sources within the school report. 

This would be the eighth attempt to get a journalism major at Stony Brook since 1965, according to former Newsday editor Howard Schneider, who currently teaches journalism at Stony Brook. This time, however, things are looking different, and Schneider is accordingly optimistic. 

“I’m cautiously confident,” he said.

Schneider, who was the author of a recent report for university president Shirley Strum Kenny on the viability of such a program, said there were three main reasons why it is likely to be instituted this time. 

First, he said, the prospect of the program has President Kenny “excited,” with all the support that entails.

Second, he said the program would fill a “real gap in SUNY.” There is currently no accredited journalism degree program within the State University of New York. 

Third, Schneider said, the school “needs a journalism program to take advantage of [the school’s] strengths.” Stony Brook is traditionally known as a university with a specialty in the biological sciences. To this end, Schneider said that he plans eventually to introduce a five-year program planned for people who wish to double-major in health science and journalism, to give students practical experience in both fields. 

“I think Stony Brook needs it,” said Paul Schreiber, adjunct professor of journalism at Stony Brook.

Support for the program goes as high as University President Shirley Strum Kenny. 

“I’ve been thinking for a long time that we need a journalism major in Stony Brook,” she said. 

While Kenny stressed that she had very little direct influence towards the acceptance of the major, she affirmed her commitment to the proposal. 

“My support is very much there. We need journalists in this country,” she said. “And we can produce the best.”

While Kenny’s endorsement gives the proposal some weight, it still faces hurdles before it is instituted. 

The curriculum must be approved by committees both on- and off- campus, which takes time. Three faculty committees must review the major before it gets passed on to the faculty senate, and then the plan goes to the state for approval. If the major does not get approved for the Fall 2006 semester, Schneider said he hoped that it would begin in Spring 2007. 

“It’s a question of going through all these layers of approval,” Schneider said, “and I think that could slow us down.”

Professor Frederick Walter, president of the Arts and Sciences Faculty Senate, said that he had heard only vague things about the proposal but was slightly wary of it.

“I think that the faculty is going to take a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude,” he said. “We need to know what we’re deciding on.”

As far as the proposed curriculum for the major goes, all journalism students would be required to take classes in all of the three main fields of journalism: online, print, and broadcast, said Schneider. Later in their academic careers, he said, students would choose a concentration within one of these fields.

“We haven’t finalized the curriculum,” he said. 

Also new to the program, according to Schneider, would be a required on-campus internship with a school media outlet, such as the Statesman, Independent or SBU-TV. This would be in addition to an optional off-campus internship.  

In order to teach this expanded journalism program, the university would have hire as many as four full-time professors of journalism, of which it currently has none, Schneider said. The journalism program will only consist of twelve classes in Spring 2006, all of them taught by part-time faculty. 

The existing journalism minor is expanding to build interest and variety in the current program in anticipation of the possible major, according to Schneider. This includes three new courses in the Spring 2006 semester, one on the history and future of the American press taught by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Newsday editor Bob Greene. 

Greene was involved in the previous effort to get the major instituted, but was unsuccessful. Schneider, who was formerly Greene’s “second” at Newsday, pulled Greene in again as an advisor for the expanded minor and the expected major. However, Greene said he is much more concerned with the latter than with the former.

“I’m not knocking the minor,” Greene said, “[but] the minor gives a taste instead of a meal.” 

The other two classes being added to the minor for the spring are Media Literacy, taught by Schneider, and a one-credit class called Colloquium on the News, taught by News 12 anchor Doug Geed. The class will consist of a series of press conferences with “a series of newsmakers” and journalists, according to Schneider.   

Reaction from the students whom this would affect was largely positive. 

“I think it’s exciting,” said George Agathos, a current student in Basic News Reporting and Writing, and Managing Editor of the Independent. “I’m gonna do it.” 

Schneider is not so optimistic about the initial reaction to the program. 

“Students don’t come here to major in journalism,” he said. However, he said he is optimistic that as the reputation of the program spreads, so will its prestige.