Tenured and tenure-track faculty in the College of Communications attended a private meeting Tuesday where a committee report was released, stating that the college's advertising department "has imploded" and "should be disbanded." The closed-door meeting, hosted by University Provost Richard Herman, was held to present the committee's evaluations which were conducted on the college over the summer.

The recommendations section of the report called for the journalism department to be reconfigured as a new School of Journalism, that would include WILL broadcasting. The institute would be split into different colleges around the University and the advertising department "should be disbanded," according to the report.

"It's unsettling to think that an institution (the College of Communications) with a 75-year tradition to it could be no more in the space of one year," said journalism professor Steve Helle. "I think that the advertising and the journalism and the Institution of Communications Research are all related and have been successful historically in the same family, and it's a risk to sever those ties and hope that the parts are greater than the whole."

But Interim Dean Ronald Yates said that the Provost made very clear in the meeting that the college is not obligated to meet or fulfill the recommendations made by the committee.

"The recommendations are just that, recommendations," Herman said.

"Some people are going to be really upset with it (the report); they'll think it's a misinterpretation of reality. That's their prerogative," Yates said. "I don't agree with everything in the report ... but I think we can use it as a good starting point."

The committee, whose report was originally due to be turned in to the provost Sept. 2, was chaired by Jim Coleman. Its findings consisted of evaluations and future recommendations for each of the three academic units, as well as WILL.

"There appears to be little sense of direction based on a shared mission for the entire College, and we were struck by the walls that seem to exist between units," the report said. "It is clear that critical issues such as hiring, promotion and tenure cases, and the mentoring of junior faculty in some units have not received appropriate oversight at the College level. This situation has been exacerbated by weak leadership and the absence of responsible faculty governance."

"The committee did a lot of work, and I think they did a good job of examining us, looking at us from the outside in," Yates said. "Obviously they didn't have the advantage of having worked within the college ... so they don't know all about the culture of this place. But I think they were able to gleam some of that from conversations they had with faculty and students over the summer."

The advertising department received the brunt of the committee's criticisms.

"The department (of advertising) has imploded, is far from critical mass, and has jeopardized the careers of its junior faculty," the report stated.

Herman said the report raised some important concerns and Yates and others within the department will research how to address them.

"The future of the college will be determined by the next process, which Dean Yates is a part of," he said.

Yates, who remains head of the journalism department while acting as interim dean, said the next step is to create an internal "task force" whose job will be to examine the perceptions of the committee's report and also take a look at their recommendations.

"Everybody who has a stake in this college is going to have a voice in this process," Yates said.

The task force will consist of faculty, academic professionals and administrative staff members. The college must produce a self evaluation by Jan. 1 to the Provost's office.

"I see this whole process as a great opportunity to redesign how we work and if we need to redesign it, we can do it," Yates said. "Maybe it doesn't require a whole lot of redesigning; maybe it requires just tweaking. I don't know."

Some people have criticized Herman's decision to make the meetings invitation only, but Herman said, "it was strictly the tenure track faculty because those are the ones responsible for the academic path of the college."

Yates will hold meetings tomorrow with all faculty and staff of the college to let them know what action is being taken next.

As advertising professors walked out of the meeting declining to comment, retired journalism professor Fred Mohn paced outside the closed doors of Illini Union room 406 waiting to hear the contents of the report.

"I care what happens to this place," Mohn said, justifying his presence in the hallway.