EDITOR'S NOTE: Sean Gaffney was employed with the Scripps Howard Foundation for an internship in Washington, D.C., this past summer. He is no longer employed with the company.
A program that brought a Pulitzer Prize winner, a former national correspondent for CBS Radio and a New York Times editor to teach in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism is in jeopardy.
Next year, the journalism school might not have the funding for a Scripps Howard Visiting Professional, a program touted to prospective students and heralded by faculty.
I haven't made my decision
said Tom Hodson, director of the journalism school. The jury is still out.
Hodson said he is working to tap other sources for the money, but some Scripps faculty said that with Ohio University's budget deficit and poor OU Foundation investment returns, those routes are dried up.
The chances are better that we won't said Joseph Bernt, director of graduate studies and a professor in the journalism school. This year (Hodson) won't be able to beg
borrow or steal.
The school, now in negotiations with a professional for next year, has about $37,000 to offer as salary from interest accrued on a new endowment. This year's visiting professional, former New York Times editor Mark Prendergast, earns $80,000 for his nine-month appointment.
The program is now funded from interest on a $1.5 million endowment from the Cincinnati-based Scripps Howard Foundation. Before it created the endowment last year, the foundation paid the yearly expenses for the visiting professional.
The school received the first $1 million last March. An additional $500,000 was added this year, said Judy Clabes, president and CEO of the foundation.
The endowment accrues interest with the OU Foundation. That foundation's investments grew least among all Ohio public universities and last among peer institutions in 2006, with 6.1 percent growth.
We might have to provide ongoing funds again
until the endowment builds up
Clabes said.
Clabes could not definitely say if the foundation would provide additional funding until the fiscal year's end in July when there is a clearer financial picture. She said that possible support depends on how much money the school needs to support the program.
The foundation, last year, endowed $15 million to OU's College of Communication to rename it the Scripps College of Communication. Although The Post is not a lab paper, many of its employees are students in the journalism school.
Scripps faculty were informed of the situation in a meeting last week. Some faculty said they were surprised while others declined to comment for this article.
I'm pessimistic at this point
said Marilyn Greenwald, a professor in the journalism school. The picture painted for us was grim.
Bernt said the school faced a similar situation last year before it named Prendergast this year's visiting professional. Hodson did not comment further and Prendergast declined to comment.
Prendergast is the eighth visiting professional since 1998. Terry Anderson, a former Associated Press correspondent who spent seven years detained in Lebanon, was the first. Kevin Noblet, former deputy international editor for the Associated Press followed in 1999 and Doug Poling, former national correspondent for CBS Radio, followed in 2000. Last year, the school chose Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.
I'm just really disappointed because these people have given our students a lot
said Patrick Washburn, professor in the journalism school. It's just disastrous.
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