A new course is in the works for next fall to educate University students on "media literacy" and to attempt to solve some of the financial issues within the College of Communications.

Ronald Yates, interim dean of the college, said the new media literacy course, which is anticipated to have 800-900 students, will be open to everyone at the University and should be "up and running" next fall.

"It will provide the campus with a window into the college and it will tell people on this campus what we're all about ... what we can bring to the table, in terms of your education on this campus," Yates said.

However, this course does not satisfy many advertising students — including members of AdAdvocates, the Registered Student Organization that advertising students formed in response to a committee's recommendation that the advertising department has "imploded" and "should be disbanded."

"On average the advertising department makes about $2 million ... it costs about $600,000 to run and that other $1.3, $1.4 (million) goes somewhere else," said Scott Goldberg, senior in communications and president of AdAdvocates. "Just because you have a class of 800 students ... if you only have 50 media studies students, you're only getting 50 people's money back."

Yates said he had nothing to do with the economic issues that the students are upset about and that the decisions were made before his time.

"I will say this: One of the complaints that came out of advertising is that they didn't feel that they were being able to keep the resources that were being generated," he said.

Yates also said the money was essentially generated by one large advertising class taught by an academic professional.

"That was a criticism they had and I've never disagreed with that, even when I was the department head of journalism," Yates said. "I understood their argument but I also understand how difficult it is, in a small college like this, to equitably distribute resources across the college."

Founding members of AdAdvocates met with Yates last week to discuss questions they had about the college's future.

"He (Yates) says the advertising department will be here next year," Goldberg said. "At first it sounded like a big deal but in actuality it's not ... if we could get him to say that the department will be here for five years, that's a different story."

Yates has appointed a task force, made up of both faculty and students, to self-evaluate the college and report back to the Provost by Jan. 1. He said he hopes that if the AdAdvocates try to contribute to the task force, they will do so in a positive way.

"I think that the students need a voice in the process, so the AdAdvocates can serve as another source of input for the bigger task force process," said advertising professor and task force member Steve Hall.

The AdAdvocates held their first official meeting last week in the Armory. Club co-founder Sean Brewster, first year graduate student, led the 29 students in attendance in an hour-long discussion on the club's purpose and their stance on the current state of the college.

"Most students didn't even know the Provost's committee was going on until they read it in the Daily Illini," Brewster said to the group. "We want to use this RSO as a way to pull us students together."

The students at the inaugural meeting made their views known regarding the future of their department at the University. They wanted to make sure advertising would remain available as a major for future students. They voiced concerns that before coming to the University, they, as well as international students, were misled into thinking that the department had a number one ranking. Students were also afraid that advertising faculty will seek employment elsewhere at stronger programs around the country.

"The report stated that (the Provost's Committee) interviewed undergraduate students and they felt that everyone was saying they didn't like their curriculum," Goldberg said. "Considering I've talked to every student ... no one has said they were that person. So our best guess is that they didn't interview undergrad students."

Goldberg was not present at the meeting because he was at an alumni social event in Chicago trying to gain support for the advertising students.

Yates said he felt the formation of the group "indicates that (the students) feel passionately about the program, which is good and that's what you want."

However, he stressed that the group's effectiveness will depend on their knowledge and use of accurate information.

"I think there's a lot of misconceptions about the issues and whether or not they fully understand those," Yates said. "That's my biggest concern."

"I can only tell them what I tell them; if they want to keep believing something else ... I don't know."