Jaargang / Année 10, 2004, nr. 2 - Gewina

Nieuwe publicaties I Publications recentes 77
leaders might have led Columbia in quite different directions. For example, Jim Carey
first turned down the deanship, then one dean later, was passed over for the job. His
intellectual approach might have given the school a much different direction. Elmer
Lower, then the president of ABC News, was considered for the post in the late
1960s. If he had come on board at the same time as Fred Friendly did, Columbia's
print focus might have been significantly changed.l Perhaps the secret to the success
of most of the deans at Columbia is the toughness they had honed while working in
major positions of responsibility within the media. It's an approach that would not
work in most other schools of journalism.
The school's New York location at the center of so much American media
activity, combined with the leadership abilities of its various heads, has brought in
many multi-million dollar awards that have maintained the visibility, reputation, and
activities of the school. No other journalism school in the world has come close to
raising the amount of money that Columbia has. Although Boylan catalogs these
grants and endowments, he makes no attempt at comparisons. Perhaps as an outsider
he does not know how different Columbia is in this regard. That money and all the
activities that go with it help explain why the Columbia name remains the envy of
schools and departments of journalism and mass communication, even though its
curriculum has not been copied much elsewhere.
Because of its detail, this book is not one that will be widely read outside the
field of people associated with the school and with journalism education. People
interested in a career in journalism administration can learn some lessons from it
about how to be better administrators. The disagreements journalism faculty face in
virtually every department are very similar to those outlined by Columbia faculty
member Melvin Mencher in a note to Dean Elie Abel: "work load, theories
(philosophies) of instruction, quality of teaching, the use of graduate assistants, the
proper balance of faculty autonomy and administrative leadership, and responsibility
to the students" (p. 194).
James Boylan, Pulitzer's SchooL· Columbia Universiry's School rif Journalism, 1903-2003. (New
York: Columbia University Press 2003) ISBN 0-231-13090-2, $ 37.50.
1 In 1968, Lower was one of two fmalists to interview for the position of the chair of what was
then the Department of Journalism at Indiana University. After his visit Lower wrote to IU that
he did not wish to be considered further until the department and the university had decided
what direction they wanted to go. Richard G. Gray, the other candidate, formulated his own
vision and was hired to transform the department.