In a controversial decision, Suffolk County Community College (SCCC) administrators have decided to discontinue its journalism program. It became official when they sent a letter last November to SUNY Chancellor John B. King informing him of the decision.
Despite three separate faculty votes — one of them unanimous — advising the college to keep the program, senior administrators still decided to discontinue it. “We cannot sustain a journalism program at this college,” said Dr Irene Rios, the Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs. According to Dr Rios, student engagement in the program has increasingly faltered over the last five years.
In the fall of 2023, a sustainability evaluation of the journalism major was taken which showed that even before the pandemic, students were not joining the program. According to Dr. Rios, the evaluation measured the number of students who joined the program at the point of admission, those who joined while at the college, and those who actually earned an associate degree in journalism at the college over the past five years, all of which have been on the decline. “When we saw a consistent drop in students applying for the journalism program, it sent us a message. They don’t want journalism,” Dr. Rios said.
According to an article in the Amityville Record, Dr. Rios also cited the lack of jobs in the journalism industry. The Record countered by acknowledging the industry’s transformation, as social media has created new opportunities for journalists to publish their work.
Additionally, former president of the Press Club of Long Island Chris R. Vaccaro wrote an editorial opinion published by Newsday criticizing the decision. He stated that “the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that careers centered around writing and public relations will grow over the next 10 years faster than average.”
Several years ago, Carl Corry was hired at SCCC as lead journalism professor and was tasked with revitalizing the program. Professor Corry has over 30 years of professional journalism experience and has held stints as the online editor for local news and products at Newsday, executive producer of News 12 Interactive, and editor of Long Island Business News.
Early on in his tenure at SCCC, Corry implemented new courses to reinvigorate the program. Corry added courses like ENG 177 - Judging the News and ENG 178 – Intro to Multimedia Journalism. Corry also brought in over 70 speakers to his classes — including Newsday journalists like Nick Grasso — who visited a journalism class in September. Prof. Corry even created Instagram and Facebook pages for the journalism major, one of the few majors to have one of either. Professor Corry also serves as the faculty advisor for the Ammerman Campus Journalism Club, which invited Shawna VanNess, the Associate Managing Editor at Newsday, to speak to students about the inner workings of the journalism field.
In terms of recruiting, Corry said he tried to recruit high school students who had an interest in journalism. Corry attended Adelphi University’s Press Day on multiple occasions, an event where high school students visit the university and explore their passion for media and journalism, to try to recruit students for the major. He has also visited Brentwood High School to try and recruit future students as journalism majors.
According to Corry, the program had a lot of support from faculty and administrators. Corry’s changes to the curriculum were finally administered beginning in the fall of 2019, and the program looked to be on an upward move. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and like most programs across the college, the journalism program saw a sharp decrease in the number of enrolled students. Given that the program was already struggling before the pandemic, it’s not surprising that journalism would be among the first programs to be re-evaluated and subsequently discontinued.
However, Professor Anita Leibowitz, Western Student Press (WSP) Faculty Advisor since 2013 and an award-winning career newspaper journalist before beginning her career in the Department of Communications at SCCC, says she was never consulted nor asked about ways of strengthening the journalism major at the college. She was able to recruit student journalists over the pandemic and publish the WSP throughout the pandemic. She recruited the current Editor-in-Chief over the past summer who attended Central Islip High School. Professor Leibowitz has led both the WSP and the Compass to many awards in professional journalism competitions including the WSP being named a Best College Newspaper on Long Island by the Press Club of Long Island, a chapter of the national Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
The underlying issue that is causing not only the journalism program, but several other programs across the college to be reevaluated is the college’s fiscal problems which can be attributed to lower enrollment, deficit spending, and a “high inflationary environment” as President of SCCC Edward Bonahue puts it. Last year, the college had a budget deficit of $7 million, which created a difficult process for making a budget for this fiscal year, which included a tuition increase of 3.4 percent.
According to a senior faculty member, the college’s fiscal problems are so bad that the college is struggling to meet its obligations of payroll, insurance, and other costs needed to keep the college running. They said that smaller programs that have not been in a “growth” mode will be looked at, and if necessary, will also be discontinued.
Journalism is one of three programs that have been recently axed. The other programs were Hotel and Resort Management and the Dietetic Technician Program, both of which were offered only at the Eastern Campus.
As mandated by SUNY, students currently in the program will be allowed to continue until they graduate. Journalism was already quite limited, as it was only offered on the Ammerman Campus in Selden. Last year, it was transferred from the English Department to the Communications Department in another attempt to keep the program alive.
Several local newspapers across Suffolk County have expressed discontent at the decision. In an editorial titled “A Major Mistake,” The East Hampton Star argued that the decision was a mistake “both for society as well as for young people seeking a highly portable skill that would serve them well in the increasingly complex workplace.” The Long Island Herald referred to the decision as both shortsighted and contrary to the college’s mission of preparing students to transfer to four-year schools.
Almost every editorial or article written emphasized the vital role of journalism in sustaining our democracy. In today’s challenging times, proper journalism is needed to hold politicians accountable to the people, and this decision has appeared to local publications that Suffolk County Community College has devalued the importance of journalism. In his opinion Chris Vaccaro believes “SCCC is sending a message: It doesn’t believe in journalism.”
When asked about her reaction to the backlash, Dr. Rios said, “I believe that a lot of observers don’t know all of the details behind our decision.” While Dr. Rios understood the concerns from local news organizations, Dr. Rios emphasized the importance of the college being fiscally responsible, stating, “We must be vigilant on how we spend the money we get from the county, SUNY, and the students who pay tuition.”
Despite the program ending, there will still be “journalism-related” courses offered at the college. Dr. Rios stated that “journalism” wasn’t going anywhere, as students can still take courses like Introduction to Journalism and Introduction to Multimedia Journalism. New students who have an interest in journalism will be directed toward similar programs like Communications and Radio/TV. According to Dr. Rios, no faculty will be removed or fired because of the decision.
In addition, the Student Government Association (SGA) will continue to fund student newspapers both in print and online, at all three campuses – The Western Student Press at Grant, Compass News at Ammerman, and The Lighthouse at the Eastern campus. Professor Leibowitz explains that “joining your college paper is the best first-hand and hands-on experience a journalist could get!”
