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NMSU journalism major Desean Payne, 20, walks Friday through Milton Hall. "It would definitely be more of an incentive to go back home and attend UNM," he said of the anticipated loss of accreditation by NMSU's journalism department.

LAS CRUCES - New Mexico State University's Department of Journalism and Mass Communications will no longer be accredited as of July 1, after faculty members voted unanimously to withdraw from the accreditation process.

The process required by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) is both labor intensive and expensive, Interim Journalism Head Sean McCleneghan said.

An accreditation cost of $7,500 would leave the department with around $1,000 for their spring semester. In addition, the ACEJMC was demanding improvement in three of nine areas for accreditation - leadership, diversity and assessment of student learning, McCleneghan said.

In the last three years, there have been three interim department heads and only one from the journalism department, leading to questions about leadership. In addition, the department would need to hire more women and Hispanic employees to meet diversity requirements. McCleneghan said the department has tried, but resources are limited and minority salaried tend to cost $15,000 to $20,000 more due to demand.

Most departments seeking accreditation receive this type of feedback, but NMSU's journalism department had little time to make the improvements before a site-visit by the ACEJMC in February, he said.

"It would be a black eye for the program and administration to be turned down. By withdrawing, it gives us a chance to position ourselves and try again," said McCleneghan, who noted

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that the department would review the accreditation process in two years.

Christa Slaton, dean of College of Arts and Sciences, is meeting with the department Tuesday.

"I want them to tell me the benefits and pros and cons," Slaton said. "Last time I met with them a few weeks ago, they said they would be moving forward with this and I said I supported them. So if they have different views than that, I want them to tell me what those views are."

Slaton said she worked with the department in developing the preliminary report to submit to the ACEJMC and a lack of funding wasn't mentioned at that time. Within NMSU's Arts and Science College other departments, such as music and physics, hold independent accreditation, Slaton said.

Jennifer Perez, 26, a senior journalism major set to graduate in May, said the accreditation was an incentive to major in journalism and had she known this was a possibility she may have reconsidered and majored in English.

"Since I've come so far in this degree and I've almost completed my degree, I'll defiantly pursue this as my career. But I'm disappointed that a future employer will be able to see I came from a non-accredited school, even though I spent a majority of my time as an accredited student," Perez said.

Mary Lamonica, an associate journalism professor, said the department would continue to follow accreditation standards independent of the title, for example limiting class sizes to 18 students and following an affirmative action policy.

"None of us changed anything in syllabi for spring, nor will we in the fall," she said.

The department has been accredited since 1996. An estimated 198 to 220 students are journalism majors and there are six full-time faculty members.

Christine Rogel can be reached at (575) 541-5424.