PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The University of the Arts is set to shut down on Friday, a week after officials shocked the school community and announced that the 150-year-old institution would close because of financial struggles.
Around 3 p.m. Friday, tears and final embraces came in abundance as students, faculty and alumni rallied on and around the steps of Hamilton Hall, the main UArts building on South Broad Street.
Brenda Patzer, who was in her fourth year, training to become an actress, spoke at the rally.
“May those responsible for ripping so many futures away never know the gift of a clean conscience,” she said.
Faculty member Melanie Bilenker studied crafts at the university from 1996-2000.
“It just breaks my heart… Some of these kids were getting ready to do their thesis work in their final year and now it’s all ripped out from under them,” Bilenker said.
She says she came to Philly to go to the school and stayed like many others.
“People came, people stayed. They put down roots, they stayed… I did, my husband did, a ton of my friends did, and I worry about not having this as a source of the creative community in Philadelphia.”
Members of the school community said they have been left in the dark since the closure announcement was made on the night of May 31. Their questions were supposed to be addressed at a town hall meeting on Monday, but the university canceled it minutes before it was set to start because officials said they could not adequately answer them.
Since then, students have been camping out on the steps of Hamilton Hall, which is covered in signs and messages written in chalk. Many members of the school community said they first found out about the closure through news reports and social media posts. They then received an email from the university stating that it was in a “fragile financial state, with many years of declining enrollments, declining revenues, and increasing expenses.”
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) said it learned about the closure on May 29, and because UArts did not take the proper steps, it withdrew the university’s accreditation.
In the days after the closure announcement, UArts President Kerry Walk resigned and the board hired a management firm to lead the transition.
Stunned city and state officials want answers too. Philadelphia City Council voted on Thursday to hold hearings to investigate the closure. Co-sponsor of the resolution, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, said City Council hopes to get the “answers UArts has failed to provide.” He said it is particularly concerning that the abrupt closure comes just months after faculty and staff ratified union contracts, which took four years to negotiate.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office is also looking into how the situation has been handled. A spokesperson said in a statement, “The Office of Attorney General has oversight authority regarding nonprofits, charitable entities, or institutions. We are very concerned by the sudden closure of University of the Arts, which has impacted students, staff, and the community. We are reviewing the circumstances of the closure and any transfer or loss of assets.”
There is a also push to keep the school open. A petition is going around, and UArts alumni and parents committees set up saveuarts.org to share information.
A number of colleges and universities in the city, region and elsewhere said they would welcome affected students by honoring credits and scholarships and providing counseling services to keep them on a path to graduate on time.