Accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, UK’s School of Journalism and Media is an award-winning program that has alumni covering news across the world.

But its old equipment and tight budget is making it tough to keep up with a rapidly evolving media industry, according to many of the school’s students, faculty and staff.

The equipment issues have been going on for years, but no new equipment has been purchased. Broadcast journalism students have attempted to interview city officials and important local figures with cameras that worked when they were tested at Enoch Grehan Journalism Building but not when they sat down to interview.

“We don’t have enough equipment, … and much of what we have is outdated, broken and nonfunctional,” Associate Journalism Professor Mel Coffee said. “I have been here eight years now, and we are still shooting on tape cameras. Those cameras we had when I started here, and we are still using them.”

In the review of the program for 2014-15, ACEJMC notified UK about two important problems with the journalism program, including compliance with equipment and access to equipment.

“This is something the University of Kentucky understands, the college understands — the dean knows it (and) the provost knows it,” Coffee said.

Regardless, the college has a limited amount of resources it can expend to improve the curriculum and supply students with necessary equipment.

“The college has been involved in a process of prioritizing resources to best focus on student growth and student success,” Dan O’Hair, the dean of the College of Communication and Information, said in an email. “In terms of journalism and broadcasting equipment, we have not been able to address all of our needs.”      

Catherine Hayden, communications director for the college, wrote in an email to the Kentucky Kernel that O’Hair has been communicating with Provost Tim Tracy. Hayden said both the dean and the provost are actively working to find a funding solution.

According to Coffee, the equipment issues and the lack of funding to fix them could be attributed to the steady decrease in state funds UK has received in recent years. The amount of money the state gives to UK has dropped by about $57 million since 2007.

“This situation is dire. Even before this round of budget cuts from the legislature and the governor’s office it was dire, and it has been since I have been here,” Coffee said. “We are not talking about a lot of money at all, we are talking under $25,000 a year probably.”

For the school to make any purchase, it must list what it will buy and how much it costs in the budget, but no money has been allocated to new cameras or other broadcast equipment.