Geneva College Conference

In October, 2008, the American Council on Education and the College Board warned that tough financial times are ahead for American colleges and universities. This presents a unique opportunity for independent journalism programs like WJI to equip Christian college journalists. There are approximately 200 small Christian colleges in the U.S. that we would describe as evangelical or conservatively Christian. In these small private, Christian colleges, for the foreseeable future, there will continue to be cutbacks in college journalism and communication programs.

This means the following:

1. Student and adviser participation in national college journalism conventions and workshops will be curtailed.
2. College newspaper advising will be shifted to full-time faculty rather than independent experienced part-timers.
3. Resources for the newspaper will be postponed (i.e., computer software and hardware, professional memberships, etc.)
4. Minor journalism/media programs will be eliminated.

College journalists need to write and produce student newspapers so that they can receive valuable experience in reporting, writing, and editing and generate published clippings in order to be competitive in the marketplace. The better those clippings are, the greater the opportunity for newsroom internships. And the better the clippings, the better the internships. With diminished resources, the Christian college journalist will be at a great disadvantage.

That said, even if resources for college communications programs were not being curtailed, the need for outside training, workshops and networking still exists. Most Christian colleges do not have the resources to send their student journalists to as many important workshops and conventions as their public college counterparts.