University of Illinois Students Organize to Advocate For Advertising

The Advertising Students are organizing to let the faculty, students, alumni, media and public know the truth about what is going on with the department

Champaign, IL September 27, 2003- The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the top ranked advertising departments in the country. Yet a committee formed by the Provosts office recommended recently that the department be disbanded. A College of Communications task force has now been appointed to determine the advertising departments future. Their plan, which will include a scheme for distributing tuition income, is due January 1.

Students majoring in advertising have decided to take action against what they see as an unfair attack on their major and irresponsible use of their tuition money. Having been excluded completely from all previous inquiries into the status of their department, advertising majors are now organizing as "AdAdvocates" in order to ensure that their program is treated fairly and their educational investment used appropriately.

"The [recent Provost's committee] report talks about all kinds of stuff that advertising students want or need- yet they did not interview a single advertising student when they investigated the College," says Scott Goldberg, one of the leaders of the new organization and a senior in the undergraduate program. "All the student comments in the report appear to be based on hearsay--or imagination," adds Sean Brewster, also an organization leader and a Masters student in advertising.

Student support for the organization already appears strong. Brewster noted that there are already more than 50 members though AdAdvocates has not yet held its first meeting. We are also already getting spontaneous donations from alumni, parents, and faculty to help support our effort."

The plan for the students is to talk with alumni, potential students, and the media to make sure they know the facts of the situation and to take actions that publicize the high national and international standing of the advertising department. As Jessica Leichenger, a senior in advertising put it; "The students plan to take a respectful approach to the situation. We have no intention of hurting the reputation of the University of Illinois; more importantly, we want to save the reputation of the advertising department before it is too late. In addition, we are also looking for donations to support our campaign."

A core concern for this group is the allocation of tuition income under the new financial plan being developed by the College of Communications task force. Brewster elaborated that the statistics (available on the web at www.dmi.uiuc.edu) show that the advertising students have been getting short shrift: the undergraduate student/faculty ratio is 43, while the campus average is 15. The average expenditure per instructional unit is approximately half of the average amount that the University spends on students across the campus.

Ad majors are confused, according to Goldberg and Brewster; by the Provosts committees statement that the investment required to strengthen the department is unacceptably high." It looks to us like the department is making a bunch of money already that isnt being put back into education for students. Where does the other 75% of our tuition go? We dont get it," remarked Brewster. Its clear the money goes everywhere else, but back into the department where it belong.