Defending the Arts Initiative

From its first days as a fledgling program within the Office of the President, the Arts Initiative has pursued a remarkable and unique journey that has left an unmistakable footprint on our campus. Five years later, with a university significantly transformed by its existence, AI continues to be engaged, as it always has been, in organic and meaningful conversations about the place of the arts in our community and in building, maintaining, and enriching our lives through the transformative power of art, culture, and media. It has done so in an accessible and transparent way that cuts across the traditional boundaries of the decentralized communities of this university like no other program has done.

More than any single factor, its prominent position within the Office of the President has made the AI thrive and be powerful and effective in its strategy. Its location in this office symbolizes an endorsement of the values of freedom of speech and robust expression that President Bollinger embraces and promotes. The AI is unrivaled among our peer institutions in its scope and breadth and has allowed art and culture to flow seamlessly into the social and intellectual fabric of this community.

Recently, the campus has come to learn that over fall break, the administration went behind the backs of students and alumni, removed the AI from the Office of the President and enclosed it within the School of the Arts, a graduate school whose purpose is to train professional working artists. Once caught, the University maintained that this was a positive development all along, and it conveniently maintains that students shouldn’t involve themselves in this strictly internal issue.

As current and former student leaders and artists, we are faithful believers in the ability of our institution to build critical and creative leaders, and so we respectfully disagree with how the University has conducted itself in the process because it is out of bounds with the Columbia we know. When students are attacked for contributing to the debate of the life of this University, we have every right to be concerned. We are disappointed in our administrators, who have acted with swiftness and secrecy, and to us they have suffered a loss of credibility and good will.

Since we are still being kept in the dark by the University on the concrete details of this move, all we have to go on is the record, and the record has not shown that the School of the Arts has been hospitable and supportive to the needs of undergraduates. Its administration has never proven that it is capable of managing campus programming that is inclusive of undergraduate voices. In fact, it is so out of touch with student life on campus that yesterday it told the Spectator, “The arts have never been a central player at Columbia.” As current and former students, leaders, and members of the creative and artistic communities here, we know better. Unwarranted statements like that prove to us that the administration lacks the capacity to communicate clearly and effectively with communities outside of its corner or to understand the unique needs of the arts community on campus.

In the end, addressing these challenges is not enough to convince us to ever support this move. Our position is that key to the survival of the Arts Initiative on campus, and by extension the creative capacities of individuals and student groups, is AI’s decentralized place, which acts as a point of convergence for all schools. This focus is fundamental to the organization’s identity and culture, and its strength flows all the way from the grass roots student body to the highest office of the University.

Given Columbia’s financial situation, we know and anticipate that tough choices have to be made, especially with regards to firing staff. The dean of the School of the Arts said it herself: “It could be down the road.” All we are asking is that we are guaranteed a meaningful role in how these choices are planned and carried out, and we consider our requests fair and realistic.

Now that we have uncovered what the University did, current and former student leaders have come together to forward calls to action and share our information online with our friends and the media. We helped turn what was a swift and clandestine undertaking by administrators into a vigorous public debate over the importance of being inclusive within Columbia’s decision-making and planning processes. By doing so, we are proud to be putting into practice the values of justice and accountability that our education has instilled in us. We are sending a clear message that our administrators should take our voices and input seriously. Columbia must not only talk the talk, but it must also walk the walk.

The author is a member of the School of General Studies class of 2009. He is a spokesperson for Advocates of the Arts Initiative.

Tags: Opinion, Aries Dela Cruz, administration, arts intiative, school of the arts