JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Students at Jacksonville University have come together to protest once again after the university revealed plans to cut controlled expenses by 10%. This move has impacted several arts programs, leading to the layoff of 40 staff members and affecting over 100 students.
This protest was an organized day of performances by the students, with different groups showcasing their talent before it all comes to an end.
“It’s really about giving our students an outlet to one I think connect one last time and just share a space together. As well as, to have an outlet to voice our concerns and frustrations, we’re allowing people to speak freely about how this has affected them,” said Sommer Kinsler, a senior at JU.
A social media post states that JU students have outlined seven demands they are calling for:
1. University administration must publicly outline the plan for “teaching out” students and how curriculum that was once a requirement will be substituted when some majors only have one professor (or none) left to teach countless students.
2. University administration must publicly release a full list of students who are offered free tuition/compensation and a clear explanation as to why they were, and other affected students were not.
3. University administration must publicly justify why tenured professors were fired without following university bylaws?
4. Full transparency from university administration regarding the full timeline from the conception of the idea to cut these programs to the decision to let students know now.
5. University administration must release a statement as to why students with affected minors were cut out of the conversations and not notified by the university on 4/14 to attend the meetings affected majors were invited to.
6. We demand that all musical equipment, instruments, and choral archives within the public domain that are left in the wake of closing the music department must be donated to needy communities within the Duval and St. Johns County areas.
7. University administration must publicly release a detailed list of training and steps the new Dean of the Linda Berry Stein College of Arts and Sciences, Christopher Corbo, is taking to make himself qualified to run a fine arts college.
Students and faculty said they were blindsided by the news, unsure of how the program cuts will impact their graduation and careers.
A former faculty member at Jacksonville University, who wants to remain anonymous, shared feeling devastated upon hearing the announcement.
“It’s a tragedy, my family is here, we settled here, we have moved here now. It’s tough because the academic job market works a little bit different and it’s a season. That season is generally September to April so there’s not many job openings right now.”
Both students and faculty consider the arts programs to be a vital part of JU’s identity.
“You cannot silence the arts whatsoever. JU was founded by the arts in the first place so if we take away the arts we take away the heart of JU,” said Patrick Johnson, a junior at JU.