Mackenzie Sheldon | Opinion editor
In 2023, Eastern Connecticut State University announced the merging of the Communication Department and the Film and Theater Department, creating the rebranded CFT. The announcement came with little warning, leaving many Communication students shocked and frustrated. The suddenness of this decision led to confusion and concern about the future of the Communication major. Students scrambled to understand what this change would mean for their academic and career paths.
As a Communication student myself, I was frustrated with this change. When I first came to Eastern, I was a declared Business Administration major with a concentration in Management. As I progressed through my studies, I realized that Communication offered more of the classes I was interested in, such as Social Media Strategies, Interpersonal Communication, and Communication Writing. Seeing that these courses aligned more closely with my passions and career goals, I quickly switched my major. Currently, my focus is on the business and the social media parts of communication, and I have no interest in studying film or theater.
I believed that the merging would not affect me too much since it happened during my junior year. I assumed that I would be able to complete my courses without much disruption. However, I quickly learned that my assumptions were wrong. During an advising meeting, I was told that Eastern had completely abolished my social media concentration and that almost all of those courses were left with it. This was extremely upsetting to me, especially since the social media-focused courses were the main reason I had switched majors.
Although my advisor did apologize for the abrupt change, it did little to ease my frustration. My advisor worked with me to find a solution, allowing me to take business courses that would still count toward my concentration requirements. The adjustment felt like a small band-aid on the entire situation. Out of my five required concentration courses, three are business classes, such as Introduction to the Arts and Entertainment Industry and Digital Marketing. While these classes were still relevant, they were not the Communication courses I had originally planned to take.
This shift in the program made me feel as though Communication students were being pushed out of Eastern altogether and that the major itself might soon disappear. The changes prioritize Film and Theater over Communication. Eastern is also now the College of Business. So it was especially hard to hear that after going through the trouble of switching my major to something that may no longer be a department.
I spoke with Liam Saranich, a senior studying Communication, to get his opinion on the Communication, Film, and Theater merge.
|“I thought it was completely ridiculous that they decided to merge these departments because, yes, they are similar in a few ways, but if you really get down to what goes into studying each field, it gets muddy when you try to mix all three. Film and theater deal with acting and performing, while communication deals with social media and production.”
He further discussed the uniqueness of the communication field...
“Communication is more of the business aspect of entertainment. The fact that they cut funding on many of the Communication department’s programs is more evidence that they are trying to get rid of the Communication major as a whole. It's not fair to students who want to focus on Communication.”
Megan Hayes, a junior double majoring in Psychology and Communication, shared similar frustrations about the merging.
|“As someone who enjoys the production and social media management aspects of Communication, I do not have any interest in now having Film and Theater attached to my hard-earned degree in Communication.”
Communication seems to be diluted at Eastern now, and you can either go the route of studying business or the route of studying film and theater. I feel like we are now all placed between these two different fields and have to be shoved to either side.
The consequences of these changes have already started to impact students. During registration for the Spring 2025 semester, COM 400: Communication Research filled up fast. This caused panic, as this course is a required class for graduation. Seniors who needed the class to graduate were left concerned, trying to find solutions and begging for an overload. Juniors were worried they would be forced to take the hardest Communication course during their final year instead of getting it done early. And they were scared something like this may happen when they are seniors.
Eastern did not take measures to accommodate all the students. Instead of hiring another professor to teach the course or opening additional sections, administration only made overload requests to anyone graduating in May 2025.
The university needs to make a greater effort to support Communication students. Required classes should not be filling up without a solution in place, and more professors should be hired to meet student demand. Additionally, students who want to study social media should have access to courses that spark their passion.
The merging of these departments may have had good intentions, but in reality, it has only created confusion, frustration, and a sense of neglect for Communication students. Eastern should take action on these issues to ensure all communication students feel heard rather than being an afterthought in a combined department.
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