University of the Arts students react to abrupt school closure

University of the Arts students protested Monday at the school’s Center City campus, a few days after the college’s leaders announced that the institution will close on Friday.

Demonstrators with creative signs encouraged passing drivers to honk in support, and student musicians and actors performed in front of the university’s Dorrance Hamilton Hall at Broad and Pine streets.

The multi-hour gathering led up to a scheduled town hall in the late afternoon for students. University of the Arts officials canceled the meeting minutes before the scheduled start time.

School President Kerry Walk and Board of Trustees President Judson Aaron, in a May 31 statement announcing the sudden decision, pointed to a “fragile financial state” and an inability to cover “significant, unanticipated expenses.”

News of the closure reached students, alumni and faculty primarily through news websites and social media – a fact that angered some at Monday’s protest.

“A lot of my friends have described feeling dehumanized,” University of the Arts film student Zarina Morgan told Metro. “Personally, I feel my creativity is worth more than finding out through an Instagram post.”

Morgan, like many of her classmates, had left campus following the spring semester. But she drove into Center City from her home in central New Jersey to participate in the demonstration. She described feeling “defeated” and thinking about her next move.

Administrators have said they are developing transfer pathways through partnerships with Temple University, Drexel University and Moore College of Art and Design.

Joey M, a film and animation student who just finished his sophomore year, said the university is shuttering without a plan.

“We’re going to protest until justice is served,” Joey added. “It’s absolutely ridiculous that people come up to us and say, ‘Well, what are you doing next?’ After the world ripped the carpet out from underneath us, and they’re expecting us to be compliant with it.”

Among a portion of the student body, there is some faith that an appeal of some kind could save the school.

“There is still hope,” Michael Pogudin, a sophomore composition major, told fellow students during a speech at the protest. “We still have time.”

On Monday, frustration over the university’s handling of the closure was combined with a call to support the broader arts community in Philadelphia.

“It’s just so cool to see that no matter what happens here – the school can shut us down, they can have us go to other different schools, disperse us – we’re still coming together as a community,” said Chloe Pyle, a demonstration coordinator who graduated with a University of Arts master’s degree in music education last month.