In volume 42 issue 24, March 31, 2008, Arthur Newspaper’s Kate Taylor wrote: “In the wake of announcing a $10.5 million dollar operating deficit, Trent has also announced that it will not be replacing retiring tenured faculty.” Almost three years have gone by since this article was published, and not much has changed since. With very few (new) full time professors and some very new programming, Trent is walking a thin line between being innovative and becoming repetitive.
Trent University has become host to a variety of new programs in the past few years. These degrees repackage existing courses from various departments under new names to increase student enrollment without increasing costs.
Most recently, Trent has committed to a joint initiative between Loyalist’s eJournalism program and Trent’s Cultural Studies and English departments, among others. Both schools hope to combine forces in order to provide students an “open door to job opportunities.”
As a graduate of Trent University’s English Literature program and Loyalist College’s Advertising program, I have experienced the benefits and downfalls of both College and University education. Previous media coverage has often been skewed toward the benefits rather than the downfalls of combining the two backgrounds into one “joint degree advanced diploma.”
I see the side of the argument that University students can find internships, can get the experience of working in the field, can work one-on-one with professors who still have their hands in the business of journalism – but I wonder if Trent’s departments are equipped to fulfill their part of the bargain.
One Loyalist College Journalism alumna I have spoken with specifically stated how much the program has changed since she graduated only five years ago, “[from what I’ve been told the Journalism program now has] even more emphasis on students becoming well-rounded multi-media reporters. Writing, photography, editing, design and web are closely linked, even more than before.” According to my own research, Loyalist College’s school newspaper has become completely digital which only proves to me the attempts at innovative learning Loyalist has been making.
It is not the fault of Trent departments that they have notbeen allowed to hire new professors. I will also say that not every Trent professor is completely technologically inept. But these restrictions on new permanent positions mean that Trent is ill-equipped to recruit and retain younger academics who will have more experience working in new media. In truth, journalism has changed so much, even since 2008, that current professors can’t be field experts and they shouldn’t be expected to be.
Even without new courses tailored to journalism, administering a new program with the same staffing formula will spread departments even more thinly. This is something that should be of concern to all students.
If Trent wishes to increase profits by adding programs, it should be investing in more faculty as well. Students who are planning to work as journalists need instructors who weren’t already teaching when The Medium is the Message was first in print. In order to be attractive to new students, Trent needs to provide departments with the resources to hire new professors.
