First Amendment Update: Pursuing discussion

The San Matean is continuing with First Amendment updates, reporting on an ongoing dispute with the administration regarding the future of its newspaper and website.

The San Matean met with James Carranza, Academic Senate President, about the restructuring of the Digital Media program, but because he was not there at the time the program was restructured, he was unable to answer some of the questions completely.

However, talking with Carranza gave the paper some ideas on how to improve our situation and possibly prevent the elimination of the journalism program.

The administration has said that they could cut the journalism program at any time because of its low enrollment. But Carranza shared the enrollment numbers of the entire DGME department, which collectively has low enrollment. If the whole department’s enrollment numbers are low after the program was restructured, what was the point of restructuring?

The San Matean talked with several DGME students and found that there are discrepancies between classes. 

One student wants to get a production certificate through CSM and she is taking all the classes to do so.

But one of the classes DGME 101: Writing Across the Media is offered at the same time as the newswriting class. 

If the administration has said that DGME 101 is redundant with newswriting, why does one need to take both to earn a production certificate?

Some of the classes do not transfer to California State Universities or to the University of California system for students’ majors. For example DGME 101 and DGME 102 which are required to receive a certificate through the DGME department, do not transfer in journalism to San Francisco State or San Jose State University.

DGME classes seem completely independent from each other, almost like they are competing. 

The Program Improvement and Viability report was designed to combine classes and improve enrollment, but it does not seem to be working.

If the classes were correlated with each other somehow or combined so that there are fewer discrepancies, The San Matean believes enrollment would improve.

The San Matean thinks the DGME department needs to have a meeting of all DGME faculty, some students, and their dean to figure out how to improve enrollment all around. 

The paper is in the process of organizing this meeting.

It is up to the DGME faculty to improve their situation, said Carranza. 

He is willing to attend a meeting with DGME faculty, but they need to speak up and take action, he said.

The San Matean will continue to investigate this issue.

The San Matean will continue to publish its newspaper and website under the current Digital Media Program. 

The latest updates can be found on our website, www.sanmatean.com.