Simms was the first journalism department head at Auburn. He returned last year after Jerry Brown left the position. Despite adamant protests from Auburn's journalism department's faculty, alumni and numerous regional newspapers, the Board of Trustees is expected to consider a recommendation to merge the departments of communication and journalism at tomorrow's 9 a.m. meeting. The recommendation comes from John Heilman, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and University Provost William Walker. The possible merger has cost the journalism program its full accreditation from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
Accreditation is the highest standard of recognition offered for an instructional academic unit.
Auburn and the University of Alabama are the only accredited journalism programs in the state. In a March 14 meeting with Heilman, the journalism faculty was expecting to be told about the final stages of the search for its new department head. Instead, Heilman told the faculty members that the search was being suspended because he would recommend a merger to the board at its next meeting. Both Heilman and Walker say the idea of merging the two departments has been around for some time. Heilman abandoned his recommendation after finding that a merger would not save significant amounts of money in the college's budget.