Northwestern students revealed mixed responses towards Medill’s new undergraduate Integrated Marketing Communications program due to start next fall.

The five-course program trains students for jobs in advertising, public relations, corporate communications and marketing. The program was well-received by the 16 informational session attendees today, but others on campus are still undecided.

Whether the program is compatible with the journalistic ethics taught at Medill is a question for some.

“I think that marketing is fundamentally based on bending the truth and on misrepresentation,” said Weinberg sophomore Emily Raymond. “Journalism is about the truth and objectivity.”

Raymond dropped out of Medill after her freshman year. The marketing direction of the curriculum was one of her main reasons for leaving, she said.

“I don’t have a problem with the program, per se,” said Raymond, now a religion major and Chinese minor. “What’s wrong with it is that it is in Medill.”

The fact that Medill is offering the IMC program, however, is a positive for some.

Medill sophomore Melissa Kreitner attended today’s informational session and said she would apply her IMC training to a public relations career.

Weaving marketing and journalism together would give her a new approach to PR and advertising, she said, as both aspects work together to reinforce the importance of understanding an audience.

Carl Deffenbaugh, a Medill junior, said the mixing of marketing with journalism is happening already at Medill.

“There’s no way that it’s [going to be] all journalism,” he said. “I’d like the chance to get a little exposure with marketing and public relations stuff before I graduate.”

Deffenbaugh said he likes the size of the program. A “taste,” he said, is just enough.

“Maybe that’s kind of sacrilegious for a journalist to say,” he said, “but I want to keep my options open after graduation.”