Surprise, Bobcats. Dear College of Fine Arts Students: I am writing to you directly from my email account because it is important to me that I communicate directly regarding a change that is being considered in the College of Fine Arts. Last Friday I met with the Film Division faculty to begin the discussion process for relocating our MFA and MA Film degree programs to the School of Media Arts and Studies in the Scripps College of Communication. I understand that this is likely unsettling news and I want to take a moment to explain our situation, and the reasoning behind this relocation plan. Our film programs have been a point of pride for many years. The quality has been outstanding, and the success of the graduates notable. Members of the Film faculty have national and international reputations in their fields, and they work with great artistic integrity to produce filmmakers and scholars of the highest caliber. I have had the privilege of seeing work by both faculty and film students, and I find their films nothing short of inspirational. So why shift these programs to another college? The College of Fine Arts, like all the colleges at Ohio University, is moving into the new financial realities of rising costs and level or reduced revenues. Subsidy from the state is unpredictable but on a downward trend. Revenue from tuition will be stabilized, if not reduced, due to policy changes. Many factors influence political policies governing tuition for us, not the least of which is a decreased capacity of most families today to afford a college education for their children. While lower tuition represents a positive change for many students, it positions the University administration with a challenge. The College of Fine Arts revenues have dropped mostly due to a decrease in undergraduate majors. We are also experiencing an increase in costs. If our expenses remain the same, we would need to receive an additional several million dollars from the University in order to meet our budget next year. This extra money is simply not available, due to the increased budget pressures on all of the colleges. If we were to continue with our present structure, necessary budget cuts would approach 10% of our expenses, and that level of budget cut would cripple all of our programs equally. It would equal the elimination of all operating budgets throughout the College, the elimination of all new hires for next year, and job abolishment for several of our professional staff or faculty. Such measures would decimate our programs, and would not provide a future for the Film Division. Instead, the current proposal for relocation of the Film degree programs provides a way for the program to continue. I believe that this course of action protects the Film Division as well as all of CoFA’s continuing programs. The School of Media Arts and Studies has approximately 650 undergraduate students, many of whom study and utilize the same technological resources as our graduate film students. They are urgently in need of graduate students in order to support this body of undergraduates. Dean Scott Titsworth, from the Scripps College of Communication and I believe that this will provide an opportunity moving forward that is sustainable and opens more opportunities for all of our students. I know that this is a very difficult transition, particularly for the Film Division faculty and students who have already made a structural adjustment to become a division of the School of Dance, Film, and Theater. As we move forward, you should know that we will be adhering to the Faculty Senate guidelines on program relocation, and within that process there will be opportunities for input for all affected faculty and students. Your Directors can provide more in-depth description of these guidelines, and I promise that I will keep you posted as we progress. It is my deep desire that this change will result in a sustainable environment wherein our outstanding Film degree programs can thrive and grow. Sincerely Yours, Peg Kennedy-Dygas
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 20:06:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015