We are no longer a nation of inventors, a nation of people with the ability to use our hands and minds together.
Studio art is one of the only areas in which this skill is still developed and perfected. It is also the only form of expression that is not tied down by the barrier of language. The removal of the studio art program from Geneseo will not only leave students without these important facets of education, but just how does Geneseo plan on calling itself a “liberal arts honors college” without a large portion of the arts?
Imagine a college without art, a town with no galleries. The studios in Brodie Hall were built by hand when the program was started and, may I add, very little new equipment has ever been purchased. Once the studios are gone, the college will never get them back.
The same goes for the speech pathology labs. And what will be done with Doty – a building that President Christopher Dahl promised would go to the department when he solicited money from the parents of speech pathology majors? What will happen to Brodie? Where will we find our professors when we need references down the road? Why were particular departments cut instead of spreading the cuts across all of the programs? Why us?
These questions can be answered by only the cabinet of trustees who made this horrendous decision. A meeting was held to “answer our questions,” and who was standing in the center of the room but Associate Dean of the College Kerry McKeever, a woman who had absolutely no say in the decision and knew the answers to very few of our questions – a scapegoat. She told us that our departments were cut based on a “rubric.” Well, President Dahl, I’d like to see this rubric. Can it measure the tremendous importance our education has on our lives? Already, since the cuts were announced, I’ve felt the quality of my education diminish.
The professors in the studio art department are some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met; they are the people with whom I feel the most comfortable talking and interacting. They are, as are fellow studio art majors, talented and monumentally inspirational. They are my family, and a family doesn’t go down without a fight. I saw the same sense of camaraderie among the speech pathology students at our meeting with Dean McKeever; I saw a family.
We deserve an explanation, and we will band together to save our departments along with many residents of Geneseo with whom I have already spoken. A decision like this could easily cause departments to pit against one another, but we must stand together for our education.
If Geneseo’s Mission Statement includes the duty “to promote academic integrity and responsible conduct through education and accountability,” then the college needs to do its part and not pull our education out from under our feet. The pain should be spread across the departments. Budget cuts are unavoidable, but this reaction to them is nothing short of appalling.
Katie Peterson
Junior (Studio Art and English/Creative Writing double major)