Before I retired, I enjoyed teaching journalism at West Virginia University. I had some truly motivated and gifted students and I liked most of my colleagues, a talented bunch of former journalists and public relations professionals. But I’m glad I’m no longer employed by WVU. Instead of being worried about losing my job, as some of my colleagues are, I am watching the disintegration of what was once a well-respected journalism school from a distance. Just last week, university officials announced they were merging the Reed College of Media (where I once worked) with the College of Creative Arts, which will no doubt mean layoffs among former colleagues whom I count among my friends. Facing a $45 million shortfall this year, WVU has arrived at these disastrous state of affairs as a result of administrative mismanagement (for failing to predict a long-term decline in student enrollment) and a Republican-led legislature that cares more about sucking up to wealthy donors and big business than they do about education in West Virginia. As this Gazette-Mail article notes, the state legislature cut funding to universities throughout the state in order to finance tax cuts that largely benefited the wealthiest households in the state. Indeed, the Republican-led legislature has been cutting WVU’s funding for years and now the piper is coming due.
“If West Virginia lawmakers had kept higher education funding at the same levels as a decade ago, WVU would have an estimated additional $37.6 million in state funding for FY 2024,” concluded a study by the Center on Budget and Policy, a well-respected think tank based in Charleston.
So who will be most hurt by our state legislature’s short-sightedness? Most of my colleagues will probably land on their feet (or retire). The ones who will suffer the most are WVU students who can no longer attend an award-winning journalism school or reap the benefit of learning from seasoned professionals. Many of my students went on to good journalism jobs where they gave back to the community by writing about the real problems that West Virginians face — the lack of decent-paying jobs, the dearth of affordable health care and education, the still-raging opioid epidemic that is claiming too many young people’s lives. And they worked hard to expose malfeasance and bad decision-making on the part of public officials. But how many students will trod the same path now that WVU’s journalism school is no more?
I guess it’s no wonder that young people are leaving West Virginia in droves, as this article shows. Stupid legislative decisions have consequences, and as usual, it’s the young and less fortunate among us who suffer.
