Thursday, January 16, 2025
In a decision that has left many Long Island journalists and educators dismayed, Suffolk County Community College has chosen to eliminate its journalism major.
The move, characterized as a cost-cutting measure in response to declining enrollment and the purportedly dim career prospects of students who study journalism, is not only shortsighted, but runs counter to the college’s mission of preparing students to transfer to four-year institutions where they can follow their chosen paths to future success.
For years, SCCC has prided itself on serving as a launching pad for students aiming to continue their education at schools such as Adelphi, Hofstra and Stony Brook universities — institutions with thriving journalism and communications programs. Suffolk’s own commercials proclaim how proud the school is to propel two-year students to four-year schools.
Journalism is not only a viable academic path at these schools; it is also a critical discipline that is nothing less than the backbone of a functioning democracy. By shuttering the journalism major, SCCC sends a troubling message about the value it places on media literacy, civic engagement and students’ preparation for essential careers in public service, accountability and compelling storytelling.
The college’s decision is proving to be a controversial one, given that it came despite opposition from SCCC’s own faculty. In three separate votes, educators overwhelmingly rejected the proposal to discontinue the program. Such strong opposition suggests that those closest to the educational process, who teach, mentor and advise students, understand the importance of maintaining a journalism program, even at a time when there couldn’t be more challenges for the profession.
The executive dean ultimately overrode those votes, citing enrollment declines and data from the New York State Department of Labor projecting limited growth in journalism jobs.
Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, however, show a more robust industry despite the decline in the number and readership of newspapers. The SCCC decision fails to account for the evolving nature of journalism and its continued relevance in a media-saturated world. The field is not disappearing; it is being transformed, and students deserve the opportunity to learn the skills needed to adapt to this new media landscape.
Content creation, social media management, podcasting, multimedia reporting and data journalism are just a few of the avenues now available to those with a foundation in journalism. Furthermore, the skills taught in a journalism program — writing, research, critical thinking and ethical reasoning — are transferable to a wide range of careers.
As it happens, the State University of New York has a system-wide community journalism program, the Institute for Local News, that provides students with real-world experience at local media outlets. Ironically, SCCC is the largest college by enrollment in the SUNY system. And we should note that its sister school, Nassau Community College, also offers journalism classes, but has no journalism major.
The Herald Community Newspapers have for years invited journalism students from colleges across Long Island to work as interns, and the company is currently in partnership with Hofstra on a program in which students will join forces with Herald journalists on a series of stories, as well as with Stony Brook’s Working Newsroom, in which students will pitch and write stories. All of the stories will be published in the Heralds.
SCCC is targeting other programs and majors that fail to meet certain enrollment and job market criteria, and those decisions signal a troubling trend of prioritizing short-term metrics over long-term educational value. While budget constraints are an undeniable reality for most institutions, their decisions about academic programs should be guided by more than just numbers. They should reflect a commitment to the colleges’ missions and to the needs of their students.
If SCCC is truly committed to preparing students for transfer and future success, it must reconsider the elimination of its journalism major. A flourishing journalism program would not only support the college’s academic reputation, but also affirm its dedication to producing graduates who are informed, articulate and passionate about engaging with the world.
Bottom-line-focused decisions may balance budgets in the moment, but they risk undermining the broader purpose of education: to prepare students not only for jobs but also for meaningful, informed lives.
