Courtesy of the Moakley Archives Institute

Students hanging out in The Suffolk Journal Office, 1978.

I’m a journalism major. I have a lot of classes with media professionals who’ve been around a long time.

I can’t go to a class without hearing from them about how good the industry was and how far it’s fallen, and I’m sick of it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love these professors to death and have a lot of respect for them. It’s just very disheartening to hear how far my industry has fallen since when they were working in its heyday.

I’m sick of hearing how it used to be. I don’t want to hear that when I’m paying $50,000 a year to learn about journalism. I want to start hearing “This is how it is…”

I understand the importance of telling us about the traditional way my industry operated and I get those days are over. However, I’m tired of hearing professors telling us about their glory days in a way that makes it seem like there is no hope when I graduate and all I’ve paid for were classes on learning how things would’ve been good 30 years ago if I was in school then.

The Suffolk Communication, Journalism and Media department also seems to miss the mark on students’ interests. How does a journalism school in a sports mecca like Boston not offer sports journalism classes, especially when a lot of students have shown a keen interest in sports journalism. How is there no partnership between Suffolk athletics and CJN to create opportunities for students interested in sports journalism and broadcasting like other schools in the area, even one of similar size to Suffolk like Emerson College?

Every time I register for classes I am dumbfounded. There never seems to be any classes that fit my interests and career goals.

I’m a print/web journalism major, which I chose because a lot of my goals are in the print space.

However, it doesn’t seem like Suffolk University is offering anything I need to succeed. I always wonder where some of the more niche and higher level classes are when I look at the course listings.

For instance, I am a pretty accomplished photojournalist, I’ve won awards for my work and been featured in professional publications in the area. However, the only class available to me currently in that field is an intro level class when, in the past, Suffolk offered classes as high as advanced photo journalism, which are now long gone.

I’m tired of being disheartened by what I hear as a junior with some experience and I can only imagine how it must feel for a freshman student taking an intro class and hearing how good the industry was when their professors were their age and how dead it is now.

This is how ambition dies. If you keep telling me things have fallen apart, why should I think there will be anything there for me when it’s my turn to look for opportunities?

I understand Suffolk CJN is a small department, where many of the professors have overloaded schedules, and that the adjuncts can only take on so much but sometimes I wonder how well admins have their pulse on what students want. 

I always feel like the department has little to offer in terms of classes that will peak my interest inside of the classroom, to the point where I even ask why the school even bothers offering my major, especially when professors are preaching how little opportunities the modern journalism landscape has.