Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and Director of Strategic Communication and Public Relations and Journalism and Media Studies Programs discussed his new book “The Student Debt Crisis: America’s Moral Urgency” with Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC, this weekend.

“It is a civil rights issue because… 45 million borrowers are challenged with having to be in debt at the tune of $1.7 trillion,” Dr. Watson said. “There is a direct link between civil rights issues and economic issues.”

Dr. Watson is a Professor of Strategic Communication and Public Relations, and a journalist himself, as Rev. Sharpton points out. Last month, Dr. Watson contributed an enlightening op-ed to the student news publication, Trinity Times, arguing that the student debt crisis is a civil rights issue requiring comprehensive reform to ensure accessible education without crushing debt.

Trinity’s undergraduate degree program in Journalism & Media Studies, and the graduate degree program in Strategic Communications and Public Relations both benefit from Dr. Watson’s stellar leadership. Dr. Watson was instrumental in the resurrection of the Trinity Times, as well as in Trinity’s acquiring the two Davis Foundation grants totaling over $1 million dollars that enabled the establishment and expansion of the new Trinity Newsroom, and media studio.

Dr. Watson and Rev. Sharpton discussed several possible solutions for these young people drowning in outstanding debt.