Hannah Sawyer ’27 is a government and self-designed journalism and professional writing double major from the North Shore of Chicago. She is an associate social media editor with The Flat Hat and is also involved with Reveille A Cappella, Delta Gamma, the Undergraduate Admission Office, Student Assembly, STEP, Mortar Board and Pi Sigma Alpha. She can often be found in the Adirondack chairs on Sunken Garden. Contact her at hesawyer@wm.edu.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
The return of the Trump administration has posed a threat to the fourth estate, the press, and we, as the American people, have the most to lose. As a government major, the erosion of the United States’ democratic foundations has been difficult to watch, and misinformation continues to plague the digital space the nation’s students have become so accustomed to.
As the Alma Mater of the Nation, the College of William and Mary has a duty to stand at the forefront of this fight, demonstrating a commitment to the free press ideals that some of its earliest alumni, and this country’s founders, risked their lives to enshrine and defend. Since its inception, the College has upheld the responsibility of educating informed individuals and future changemakers. The establishment of an official journalism major would represent a modern commitment required to uphold our historical mission: protecting the press, serving as a check against abuses of power and ensuring the ethical integration of technology into society.
Williamsburg’s historical ties to America’s fourth estate extend to before the founding of the United States. Virginia’s first newspaper, the Virginia Gazette, was founded in the city in 1736. Furthermore, Thomas Jefferson, who attended the college from 1760-62, was an adamant supporter of the First Amendment.
Jefferson and other alumni, like James Monroe and John Marshall, used the written word to speak out against the injustices of British colonial rule. It was these men who fought for the inclusion of the line that has defended legions of journalists for almost 250 years: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The free press would not exist in America today if it were not for the ideals of free thought and speech instilled in these men by the College’s liberal arts curriculum. However, the College today seems to believe that teaching the principles of the First Amendment is sufficient without the inclusion of thorough journalistic practice in our education.
Technological fluency is necessary in today’s day and age, especially as artificial intelligence and other technological advancements become increasingly integrated into our daily lives. The escalation of deepfakes and AI-assisted research processes has created a dangerous media sphere in which consumers struggle to delineate fact from fiction. Sorting through headlines and photos without proper media literacy is, in itself, a massive threat to free expression.
The College understands the prominence AI has gained in our modern world and has accordingly made significant advancements in technology and data science. In 2025, the College established the School of Computing, Data Science and Physics, complete with its own AI minor. The study of AI in today’s age is incredibly important. Douglas Schmidt ’84 M.A. ’86, dean of the School of CDSP, said in a W&M News article from September 2025, “AI is no longer just for computer scientists, it’s transforming art, history, law, business — practically every discipline.”
The integration of AI in the School of CDSP firmly places the study of AI in the sciences. However, with every major scientific or computational breakthrough comes the need to understand how it is ethically incorporated into our society. With the advent of the AI curriculum, the College should make strides to balance technological studies and the humanities. What better way to do so than with a degree specifically dedicated to the dissemination of information and the way society consumes it?
Allocating equal attention to the liberal arts fields that check the power of technology conglomerates and specialize in the ethics of information distribution is a necessity in today’s day and age. How can the College claim to want to protect freedoms of expression and active civic participation without investment in educating those who want to dedicate their lives to defending the public from misinformation? If the College wants to remain at the forefront of modern, innovative education, it has the opportunity to house both a school of data sciences and a school of journalism.
Furthermore, the announcement of the Year of Civic Leadership further necessitates us to ask if we are truly preparing leaders for a 21st-century democracy. We cannot honor our past as a cradle of democracy while ignoring the modern crisis of the fourth estate. A journalism major would serve as the academic anchor for this initiative. The press is essential to holding those in power accountable, and it is crucial to keeping the American public informed, a necessity for well-informed civic debate. This has been notably absent in today’s civil society.
Political figures, like President Donald Trump, have heightened the war on the press. He has restricted press access to various events and used incendiary rhetoric to refer to the press, including “scum,” “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.” More recently, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced new, restrictive press policies that have led many major media organizations to leave the White House press core rather than report under these conditions.
Not only are journalists having to defend the American people, they are now also having to defend themselves. If the American ideals of freedom and liberty that our founders enshrined are to be present by the end of this administration, we need journalists to hold leaders like Trump accountable. As one of the nation’s top public universities and a producer of thousands of public servants, the College has an obligation to assist in the defense of our nation’s ideals by training those who can report the news and speak truth to power, even when that power emanates from our nation’s highest offices.
Critics may argue that establishing a journalism major would be an expensive endeavor for the College, but there are already staff and programs across the College that allow students a peek into the importance of the press. I am an alumna of the Sharp Journalism Seminar Fellowship, a program offered through Roy E. Charles Center, which funds year-long student reporting projects across the globe and allows for publication on the Pulitzer Center website. The Charles Center has also introduced the Sharp Writer-in-Residence program, which brings different professional authors, writers and journalists to campus to teach a masterclass on nonfiction writing each semester. Beginning in fall 2025, the interdisciplinary course Writing for Media, taught by sports journalist Grace Raynor from The Athletic, also became a course offering sponsored by the Charles Center.
Staff at this university care about journalism and responsible media consumption, and the growing waitlists for journalism classes indicate that students do too. While I am grateful the College has offered me these limited educational opportunities, it highlights the school’s failure to establish a foundational civic education, essential in journalistic education. I’ve had to scrape together electives and classes from across departments because the College lacks the necessary commitment to ensuring that students can access this coursework in one location.
While I want to recognize the hard work of the Charles Center, these classes and opportunities are not a dedicated major, department or school. I am not the first student to have had to cobble together the various programs and classes to form a self-designed major in journalistic studies. Bringing an official journalism major to campus would create a bridge between these dedicated faculty who understand the importance of journalism in the modern day. Having a dedicated major specifically designed to balance misinformation in the digital space and hold our leaders accountable would be a great way to embrace our historical values.
The College has equipped scholars, like former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki ’00, with the skills necessary to pursue journalism in their respective times. However, the problems of the modern age are unlike those that we have faced before. The prominence of AI and technology and the never-before-seen assaults on media by the current administration necessitate responsible consumers of information and people trained in how to seek the truth in our modern age. As we begin the Year of Civic Leadership, it is time that the College makes this investment in the pursuit of truth and an informed population.
If the College wishes to remain true to its name as the Alma Mater of the Nation, it has a duty to uphold its commitment to the First Amendment ideals its alumni have worked tirelessly to defend for generations. It is not until the College dedicates itself financially and principally to uphold and revitalize the fourth estate that the College can fully live up to its noble title.
