Communication Studies? What's THAT?

Being in a department of Communication Studies (formerly, speech-communication), I am constantly aware that we must fight for legitimacy. If you are a department of political science, or sociology, or history, or physics, or chemistry, you can rest assured that no one will eliminate you--it would be unthinkable within a liberal arts institution. Yet communication studies always needs to be looking over its shoulder. In fact, in the last 10 years, both St. Olaf College and Macalester College have eliminated the communication studies department and major. Go figure.

When St. Olaf was about to dismantle its "speech" department in the late '90s, I sent the President of St. Olaf the following letter in April 1998:

Dear Dr. Edwards [Mark Edwards, then President]:

I was both concerned and bemused to learn that St. Olaf College is considering elimination of its major in speech communication. I am concerned because such a move reflects a lack of appreciation for the value of a communication major. I am bemused because such thinking is counterproductive for a place such as St. Olaf and will, ironically, have adverse economic impact for the institution in the long run. [Note: part of their rationale for this decision involved "finances."]

As an academic discipline, speech communication has a long and proud heritage. As you may know, the study of rhetoric has been one cornerstone of a liberal education since ancient Rome and Greece. In the modern era, speech communication has as its central mission the exploration of communication in a variety of important contexts: public advocacy, mass-mediated rhetoric, and communication in interpersonal, small group, intercultural, and organizational settings. Communication majors will enter the 21st century with the knowledge and skills to make important contributions in education, law, business, print and broadcast journalism, religion, and a host of other fields.

Tacitly, it would appear that St. Olaf recognizes the importance of the communication discipline because a "communication emphasis" would continue to be part of the curriculum, with "communication" related courses being taught by faculty from other disciplines. I can tell you from experience that this is not a very workable plan. Although most of us speak and write English and read literature, that does not make us prepared to teach courses in an English department. By the same token, the fact that we all attempt to "communicate" does not mean that we all understand the conceptual elements of communication as articulated in a dozen of our major communication journals and a wide array of our textbooks--nor does it enable one to work effectively with students in the development of their communication skills. All of that takes formal training.

From a more pragmatic standpoint, I would urge you to consider that virtually every college and university in the state has an active, thriving department of communication. At Augsburg, nearly 250 students have chosen a communication major; two-thirds of them are in our Weekend College program for working adults. Overall, the communication program is a real "draw" for many of our students, and we think we do a good job of providing a challenging, meaningful, and academically sound curriculum. If St. Olaf were to abandon its communication major, we would no doubt stand to benefit at least a bit, as would every other school throughout the state. But that is not the way we would like to attract students; ideally, we would prefer to "earn" our communication majors rather than getting them by default.

I hope that St. Olaf does not dismantle its communication program. To do so would be a loss for your students and a loss for St. Olaf institutionally--it would put the college at a competitive disadvantage. The negative publicity alone would linger in many circles for years and ultimately offset any short-term savings. I was told yesterday that the Department of Speech and Theater had been planning a 50th anniversary celebration for the communication program. You can imagine how well-received the proposed abolition of the major will be from the many alumni attending this event. And you can imagine what I will have to tell prospective Augsburg communication majors when they come for a campus visit and tell me that St. Olaf is on their "short list" of college choices.

For all of these reasons, I truly believe that St. Olaf will be doing itself a favor by reconsidering its stance on this matter.

Sincerely, blah blah blah......

[Needless to say, "Howling Wolf" (that's me--what I wanted to call this blog, but the name was already taken) never heard back from President Edwards, and St. Olaf just went right ahead and deep-sixed the department anyway. But just the same I had to howl, if only to keep my sanity. Now having shared this dusty old letter, I can go back to being, simply, a contentious introvert.]