(Disclaimer: This article is satire and is not meant to be taken seriously. It does not reflect the views of The Spectator or UW-Eau Claire.)

Journalism students at UW-Eau Claire were thrilled to hear about the massive changes being introduced to the department. 

It was announced that the journalism major and minor would be reduced to a semester-long, 12 credit certificate, due to the current journalistic climate. 

Senior lecturer Kendra Harrison made the announcement during an online forum last Friday.

“The 21st century has shown the world that it does not take much to be a journalist anymore,” Harrison said. “Our department decided to take an in-depth look at our requirements to see if we were really qualifying our students with the skills they need for the real world of journalism.”

Harrison and her colleagues found the program was in fact, over-preparing students for the field they were pursuing.

“Media law and ethics as well as objectivity and accuracy are out of date concepts for current-day journalism, and it has allowed us to cut out many courses from the program,” Harrison said.

The program was reduced to three, four-credit courses, which can be completed in one semester.

These  courses include:

• CJ  101: Introduction to Writing
• CJ 102: Introduction to Grammar
• CJ 103: How to Write an Opinion Piece 

The journalism department is confident that these courses will be everything a student needs to succeed in large news outlets.

Harrison reached out to the Washington Post to get an opinion on the program’s re-work.

“I reached out to some friends who work at the Washington Post and showed them our new program, and they were ecstatic,” Harrison said. “Many of them told me that UW-Eau Claire journalism students would have an easy time getting hired there with this kind of experience and were excited to interview some great writers from UWEC in the future.” 

UW-Eau Claire journalism students rejoiced this past weekend, as this re-work helps them out in many ways. 

Maya Jackson, a first-year journalism student, said she is happy to save money by taking less courses.

“This is phenomenal, I should be out of school in two years or less, my gen eds are going to take more time than my major, which is how it should be for all majors,” Jackson said. “Two less years of school will save me so much money and allow me to make so much more money in the field of journalism sooner!”

Jackie Charles, a third-year journalism student, said they were very excited.

“My classes in the CJ department were getting rather difficult, so I’m glad to be out of them,” Charles said. “There’s no need to make students in college work harder than they will on the job. I fully support this decision.” 

All current journalism courses  have been cancelled this semester and the new courses and certificate will be available next semester for all students. 

Doyle can be reached at [email protected].