A Statement from the Organizations’ Leadership Supporting Leadership Diversity

October 19, 2023

Contact: Linda Aldoory, American University, 2023-24 AEJMC President or
Johnny Sparks, Ball State University, 2023-24 ASJMC President

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC)

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Education is the key to eliminating gender inequality, to reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless deaths and illness, and to fostering peace.” – Nelson Mandela

We, the Boards of Directors of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC), write to support minoritized and marginalized administrators and faculty in their efforts to lead universities in addressing their inclusive excellence goals, in the recruitment and retention of faculty from minoritized groups, and in the development of strategies that will further efforts and investments related to inclusive excellence.

AEJMC’s mission is “to promote the highest possible standards for journalism and mass communication education, to encourage the widest possible range of communication research, to encourage the implementation of a multi-cultural society in the classroom and curriculum, and to defend and maintain freedom of communication to achieve better professional practice, a better-informed public, and wider human understanding.” Similarly, ASJMC works “to foster, encourage, and facilitate high standards and effective practices in the process and administration of education for journalism and mass communication in institutions of higher learning.” We cannot stand idly by while our members are under attack. Author Zora Neale Hurston stated, “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.”

AEJMC has a long history of advocating for the recruitment and implementation of a diverse faculty and student body in media education, and has invoked its membership to “make every effort to achieve 50 percent minority and/or female faculty and administrators by the year 2000.” While this goal has not yet been realized, current efforts in multiple state legislatures are threatening to undo any progress that has been made. Several state legislatures have considered or successfully passed bills banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at higher education institutions. Furthermore, a few states have gone so far as to restrict how race and gender topics can be taught in public higher education institutions. These efforts seek to change uncomfortable truths about the American experience to “convenient lies” which further undermine the experiences and accomplishments of minoritized populations in this country.

As a result of these measures, multiple colleges and universities have eliminated their diversity, equity, and inclusion divisions or units, and hiring decisions involving faculty from racial minority groups have been based on political agendas and rhetoric rather than the qualifications and academic contributions of faculty candidates. We are troubled by the rise of anti-diversity and inclusion activism and its undue influence on universities’ hiring procedures. Furthermore, we are committed to developing processes and systems that will enable us to map and monitor incidents and systemic practices that negatively impact our members of color and other marginalized groups.

Now, more than ever, AEJMC and ASJMC leadership realize the importance of a diverse faculty and student body in media education, and we vehemently support college and university offices, programs, and initiatives focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Representation matters, and we stand with our members. We encourage them to remain steadfast in their efforts to recruit and retain faculty from minoritized groups. We are committed to the fulfillment of our mission and will continue to advocate for our members until the goal of achieving minority and female faculty and administrators is realized.

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is a nonprofit organization comprised of educators, students and practitioners from around the globe. Founded in 1912, by Willard Grosvenor Bleyer, the first president (1912-13) of the American Association of Teachers of Journalism, as it was then known, AEJMC is the oldest and largest alliance of journalism and mass communication educators and administrators at the college level. AEJMC’s mission is to promote the highest possible standards for journalism and mass communication education, to encourage the widest possible range of communication research, to encourage the implementation of a multi-cultural society in the classroom and curriculum, and to defend and maintain freedom of communication in an effort to achieve better professional practice, a better-informed public, and wider human understanding.

Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC)

ASJMC is a non-profit, educational association composed of some 190 JMC programs at the college level. The majority of the association’s members are in the United States and Canada. ASJMC promotes excellence in journalism and mass communication education. Founded in 1917, ASJMC works to support the purposes of schools of journalism and mass communication in order to achieve the following goals: to foster, encourage and facilitate high standards and effective practices in the process and administration of education for journalism and mass communication in institutions of higher learning; to cooperate with journalism and mass communication organizations in efforts to raise professional standards and promote a public understanding of the role of journalism and mass communication in a democratic society; and to support and participate in the accreditation process of journalism and mass communication units through the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC).