At a standing-room only open forum in Brown Hall Friday, ETSU President Paul Stanton delayed the $100 per credit hour fee that would apply to students in the digital media program starting next semester.
Stanton said that the fee will be added gradually and not until January 2004. The fee that spring will be $50 per credit hour, and by January 2005 students will be paying the full $100 per credit hour.
“I’ve heard you,” Stanton said. “I’m concerned for you, and we’re going to make it work for you.”
The original plan for implementing the fee was a three-step increase. Students would have paid one-third of the $100 in spring of 2003, followed by two-thirds of the amount in fall 2003. By fall 2004, they would have been paying the full fee.
The money paid by students will go to the digital media department.
Dr. Bert C. Bach, provost, said that the department had been finding ways to fund the program for years, including reallocation of funds and private support. Now some of that funding will come from the students.
“We believe that the students must also share in that greater cost,” Bach said.
Professor Cher Cornett, director of the Niswonger Digital Media Center and coordinator for the digital media program, discussed some of the additions and improvements that had been planned for the next three years.
They included software updates, adding a green screen facility, buying new computers, adding sound cards, sound editing software and much more.
“We want to be competitive with the best academic digital media programs in the country,” Cornett said.
However, because of Stanton’s decision to defer the fee increase, these improvements will not take place as scheduled. They will be delayed unless additional funding becomes available.
“I’m disappointed that there will be no fee because that means that those of us graduating will see no improvements,” student Jean-Paul Lavoie said. “I’m wondering whether the students are more interested in money or their education. It seems to me that it is money.”
One of the students’ biggest concerns is how long it took for them to be notified about the fees. The Tennessee Board of Regents approved the fee increase in July. Their decision, however, was not communicated to students until almost two weeks ago.
“We need to know what assurance is going to be given to the student body that we will be given proper notification in the future,” said Kenny Coleman, digital media graduate student.
Students are also concerned about the fact that they have no job placement opportunities when they graduate the program. Many also feel that the skills and knowledge gained are minimal.
“Students already enrolled in the program who are nearing graduation have already suffered from lack of a well-trained staff to their curriculum and the lack of any kind of job placement program in the future,” said student Denise Shortt.
The curriculum is undergoing a major overhaul, according to Cornett. Some classes will be eliminated while others will be added. Many of the digital media staff have only been at ETSU for three months.
Jason Turan, president of the Engineering Design Graphics Extremists Club (EDGE), will be meeting with Stanton next week to discuss ideas and concerns of the situation.
“The student body in the digital media program has never had a definitive voice until this point,” Turan said. “Hopefully, because of this meeting, we can have a say or opinion in department decisions.”
“This meeting would not have taken place if Kenny Coleman had not put forth the initial effort that he did.”
The fee increase and program will undergo careful scrutiny in the weeks to come.
Stanton said that the digital media program used to be one of the things he always bragged about. That bragging has stopped.
“I’m not going to be proud of it until you’re satisfied,” he said.

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