The Passing of the School of Journalism, 1932
The immense influence and value of a coalition between the profession of publishing newspapers and the profession of teaching journalism has seldom been so graphically demonstrated as in the tortured spring of 1932 in Oregon."
This is the way David A. Gilbert, grandson of Eric W. Allen, began his description of perhaps the greatest crisis to face the University of Oregon School of Journalism.
In 1925, Oregon was one of only 18 members of the American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism, an organization it had co-founded in 1917. The School was widely considered a leader in journalism education and was the eighth largest journalism school in the nation. It had graduated more than 200 students and numbered among its graduates 55 newspaper executives around the country.
By the mid-I920s, legislators and citizens of the state began to push for greater cooperation between the University and the burgeoning Oregon Agricultural College (later named Oregon State University). Competition between the schools had become increasingly intense as course offerings and degree programs proliferated at both institutions. Journalism was one of the many areas of duplication that was coming under scrutiny from the Oregon State Board of Higher Education.
When the Great Depression descended on the country in 1929, the state legislature ordered the board to reorganize the system of higher education to "eliminate all unnecessary duplication." A massive investigation was undertaken by the board over the following months, resulting in a decree that the School of Journalism at the University be the only degree-granting institution in the state, while the Department of Industrial Journalism at the college (OSU) "be confined strictly to lower division work."
However, facing one of the largest deficits in state history, the governor of Oregon, Julius L. Meier, ordered the board to cut $2.81 million from its operating budget. And on, March 7 the Curricula Committee of the State Board of Higher Education held the Journalism program at the University and the program at the college (OSU) were essential y a "duplication of effort and cost." Acting almost immediately on their own recommendation, the board literally abolished the 16-year-old School of Journalism at the University of Oregon.
In 1925, Oregon was one of only 18 members of the American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism, an organization it had co-founded in 1917. The School was widely considered a leader in journalism education and was the eighth largest journalism school in the nation. It had graduated more than 200 students and numbered among its graduates 55 newspaper executives around the country.
By the mid-I920s, legislators and citizens of the state began to push for greater cooperation between the University and the burgeoning Oregon Agricultural College (later named Oregon State University). Competition between the schools had become increasingly intense as course offerings and degree programs proliferated at both institutions. Journalism was one of the many areas of duplication that was coming under scrutiny from the Oregon State Board of Higher Education.
When the Great Depression descended on the country in 1929, the state legislature ordered the board to reorganize the system of higher education to "eliminate all unnecessary duplication." A massive investigation was undertaken by the board over the following months, resulting in a decree that the School of Journalism at the University be the only degree-granting institution in the state, while the Department of Industrial Journalism at the college (OSU) "be confined strictly to lower division work."
However, facing one of the largest deficits in state history, the governor of Oregon, Julius L. Meier, ordered the board to cut $2.81 million from its operating budget. And on, March 7 the Curricula Committee of the State Board of Higher Education held the Journalism program at the University and the program at the college (OSU) were essential y a "duplication of effort and cost." Acting almost immediately on their own recommendation, the board literally abolished the 16-year-old School of Journalism at the University of Oregon.
Dean Eric Allen, already exhausted from months of increasing pressure and anticipation, cancelled a planned European vacation and launched what could only be called a crusade for the very survival of the school he had founded. The first protests came from other schools of journalism around the country. William Grosvenor Bieyer of the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism wired the president of the University of Oregon to protest. UO President Arnold Bennett Hall, himself a strong defender of the journalism school, could do little, however, to sway the opinions of the board.
But protest continued to mount, and, tellingly, not only from other schools, but increasingly from the newspaper industry itself. The editors of the Klamath Falls Evening Herald published a scathing editorial highly critical of the board's decision.
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Dozens of editorials and articles appeared over the next two months, decrying the decision to abolish the School of Journalism. The State Editorial Association even formed its own committee to study the problem and submitted its own plan to the State Board of Higher Education. The plan called for a greater consolidation of coursework within the journalism program and recommended some cost-saving measures to appease the board, which was itself under severe pressure to cut economic waste. In fact, the proposed plan would cut the journalism budget by two-thirds.
In its last April meeting, the board voted unanimously to reinstate the School of Journalism at the University of Oregon. On May 23, 1932, Eric W. Allen was re-appointed dean of the School of Journalism. During the 10 weeks of crisis, he had become so despondent that he had removed his name from the door of his office in preparation for the closing of the School. In fact, the 1932 Oregana, published prior to the board's reinstatement of the School, began its description of the journalism program this way:
In its last April meeting, the board voted unanimously to reinstate the School of Journalism at the University of Oregon. On May 23, 1932, Eric W. Allen was re-appointed dean of the School of Journalism. During the 10 weeks of crisis, he had become so despondent that he had removed his name from the door of his office in preparation for the closing of the School. In fact, the 1932 Oregana, published prior to the board's reinstatement of the School, began its description of the journalism program this way:
After twenty years of service to the State and the University, it is with a feeling of great personal loss that the campus views the passing of the School of Journalism.
Fortunately, word of the School's demise was greatly exaggerated. And, what became of the move to reorganize and consolidate the state's institutions of higher education? When the proposal was put to the voters of Oregon in the fall of 1932, it carried only two counties -- both close to Corvallis.
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Much of the information for this section was gleaned from an article by David A. Gilbert, the grandson of Eric W. Allen.