STAFF EDIT: More than a minor problem

As Boston University students near the midpoint of the spring semester, their thoughts are turning to where they are going to find work this summer, or for seniors, what they are going to do career-wise. Unfortunately, the College of Communication and the School of Management have decided to make the job-seeking process a little harder by denying career and resume services to those who are only minoring in their respective programs.

Of course, BU’s different schools need to respond to the tough economic times by scaling back appropriately, but making career service resources less available to students when the job market is struggling is the unkindest cut. Competition for jobs among college students is more intense than ever, and it may come down to the ‘little things’ in a student’s resume that determine whether they beat out hundreds of other applicants for that job in the field of their minor.

The attitude that a college should only be catering to those who are majoring in that college is wrong. In his Strategic Plan, BU President Robert Brown emphasizes the university’s ‘commitment to a liberal arts and sciences education.’ BU students are encouraged to graduate with a diverse educational background, and many have minors in colleges to which they do not belong. Expanding one’s educational horizons by combining a major with an unlikely minor should be encouraged by BU. Instead, SMG and COM are sending the message that they will not be accommodating to students who wish to minor in their fields of study if they don’t already belong to the school.

It isn’t fair for COM and SMG to discriminate against minoring students. It is perfectly reasonable for COM or SMG to deny students taking only one or two classes in the school full access to their career resources, but students who are minoring in a subject are more than just interested in that subject; they are making a serious commitment to that field of study. SMG and COM should not be denying these students the important services that they offer to those majoring in their college; both groups of students are paying the same amount of tuition, and deserve equal service.

When SMG and COM choose to exclude from their career services those who are seeking to minor in their college while the College of Arts and Sciences does the right thing and offers resources to all in its school, it only illustrates the fractured nature of BU’s colleges. Brown’s ‘One BU’ initiative is being ignored by this discrimination, and COM and SMG must find another way to save money instead of turning students away from the career services they provide.