For about 20 Valparaiso University students who hand-delivered letters to the office of University President Jose Padilla Wednesday afternoon, the university’s plan to sell three paintings from the campus art museum, including a Georgia O’Keeffe, to raise money to renovate freshman housing is the last straw in a slow erosion of the arts at VU.
Junior theater major Trey Erny, one of six theater majors grandfathered in after the school dropped the major for new students, said the university now has to put on student-led theater after their professor was let go. He said a dance professor has also been eliminated.
“When you sell three one-of-a-kind pieces of art, it kind of takes it to a new level,” Erny said.
The students trekked from the university’s Center for the Arts to Padilla’s office across campus at Heritage Hall, the oldest building on campus, which was also recently renovated. Sources have told The Post-Tribune three paintings are slated for sale: “Rust Red Hills” by O’Keeffe, “Mountain Landscape” by Frederick E. Church, and “The Silver Vale and the Golden Gate” by Childe Hassam. Padilla’s assistant collected the letters and said he was in meetings.
An email from Padilla to students sent Feb. 8 stated that the university has a five-year plan to change and grow the university, which has seen its enrollment drop by nearly 1,500 students since the fall of 2015 when it hit its peak of 4,544 students. In addition, the university has experienced a 17% reduction in full-time faculty and staff positions, or 135 positions in total.
The board and administration are prepared to consider assets and resources that are not core or critical to the educational mission or strategic plan to achieve these goals, he wrote.
“One priority initiative is to improve first-year residence halls and create a first-year, residential complex that is on par with our upperclassmen residence halls and includes the amenities that the current generation of prospective students expect,” the letter states.
“This is crucial for both attracting and retaining students, as well as increasing the tuition revenue and strengthening our support of our students, faculty and staff. Currently, our first-year residence halls do not reflect the importance we place on the residential learning experience and do not meet the expectations of our incoming students or their families. In order to attract, retain, and meet the expectations of the current generation of incoming students, it is imperative that we provide a residential experience that is commensurate with those of our peers and aspirational peer institutions. Our plans for a new first-year residential complex will provide the amenities and features that prospective students value and expect,” the letter goes on.
The university handbook typically requires five days notice for protests, so the effort was a chance to make their voices heard.
“It starts to feel like art students are kind of an advertisement, rather than a value,” added sophomore music education major Victoria Tiller, who was walking with Erny to deliver her own letter, explaining that the O’Keeffe and the Center for the Arts it’s housed in are a big part of campus tours.
Senior theater major Miranda Hernandez said she gave up her job as campus tour guide last fall when the theater professor was let go. She said she wrote in her letter that “if I had kept that job, I would have quit now.”
Freshman creative writing major Tabitha Porter wrote, “a lot about how the arts have been declining and how it is an outrage that you’re going to sell these works of art that are so influential to us just to renovate a building.”
Freshman global studies major Joseph D’Acquisto said the majority of the student body he’s spoken with don’t think the renovations are necessary.
“He’s trying to argue that better residential halls are going to bring in more students,” D’Acquisto said. “We’ve had so much discontinued from us that we’re all just sick of it.”
“We’re becoming a tech school,” Porter said.
“So much for the arts,” Hernandez chimed in.
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Junior theater major Trey Erny, one of six theater majors grandfathered in after the school dropped the major for new students, said the university now has to put on student-led theater after their professor was let go. He said a dance professor has also been eliminated.
“When you sell three one-of-a-kind pieces of art, it kind of takes it to a new level,” Erny said.
The students trekked from the university’s Center for the Arts to Padilla’s office across campus at Heritage Hall, the oldest building on campus, which was also recently renovated. Sources have told The Post-Tribune three paintings are slated for sale: “Rust Red Hills” by O’Keeffe, “Mountain Landscape” by Frederick E. Church, and “The Silver Vale and the Golden Gate” by Childe Hassam. Padilla’s assistant collected the letters and said he was in meetings.
An email from Padilla to students sent Feb. 8 stated that the university has a five-year plan to change and grow the university, which has seen its enrollment drop by nearly 1,500 students since the fall of 2015 when it hit its peak of 4,544 students. In addition, the university has experienced a 17% reduction in full-time faculty and staff positions, or 135 positions in total.
The board and administration are prepared to consider assets and resources that are not core or critical to the educational mission or strategic plan to achieve these goals, he wrote.
“One priority initiative is to improve first-year residence halls and create a first-year, residential complex that is on par with our upperclassmen residence halls and includes the amenities that the current generation of prospective students expect,” the letter states.
“This is crucial for both attracting and retaining students, as well as increasing the tuition revenue and strengthening our support of our students, faculty and staff. Currently, our first-year residence halls do not reflect the importance we place on the residential learning experience and do not meet the expectations of our incoming students or their families. In order to attract, retain, and meet the expectations of the current generation of incoming students, it is imperative that we provide a residential experience that is commensurate with those of our peers and aspirational peer institutions. Our plans for a new first-year residential complex will provide the amenities and features that prospective students value and expect,” the letter goes on.
The university handbook typically requires five days notice for protests, so the effort was a chance to make their voices heard.
“It starts to feel like art students are kind of an advertisement, rather than a value,” added sophomore music education major Victoria Tiller, who was walking with Erny to deliver her own letter, explaining that the O’Keeffe and the Center for the Arts it’s housed in are a big part of campus tours.
Senior theater major Miranda Hernandez said she gave up her job as campus tour guide last fall when the theater professor was let go. She said she wrote in her letter that “if I had kept that job, I would have quit now.”
Freshman creative writing major Tabitha Porter wrote, “a lot about how the arts have been declining and how it is an outrage that you’re going to sell these works of art that are so influential to us just to renovate a building.”
Freshman global studies major Joseph D’Acquisto said the majority of the student body he’s spoken with don’t think the renovations are necessary.
“He’s trying to argue that better residential halls are going to bring in more students,” D’Acquisto said. “We’ve had so much discontinued from us that we’re all just sick of it.”
“We’re becoming a tech school,” Porter said.
“So much for the arts,” Hernandez chimed in.
Valparaiso University students protest plan to sell three paintings, including a Georgia O’Keeffe
Students who hand-delivered letters to the office of Valparaiso University President Jose Padilla said the plan to sell three paintings from the campus art museum is the last straw in a slow erosion of the arts.
