It is well known that the University of Toledo has had to suffer budget cuts in numerous areas. The Art Department has been hit especially hard, and the effects of the cuts in this department are, most likely, not going to be temporary.
It has come to the attention of a number of concerned students that the line in the University budget for a drawing professor has been removed. This means that once Professor Attie is finished teaching there will be no upper level drawing professor, which will effectively remove a drawing program from the art curriculum.
It is imperative to the success of the student body, and the department as a whole that this budget cut is amended and a line added for a new drawing professor. The current removal will affect all students. Drawing is a fundamental skill that is needed for successful art students, especially those planning on continuing on to graduate school. The methods of seeing, creating space, light and color that are taught through drawing strengthen every other artistic medium.
Perhaps the larger issue at stake is that if the President of the University, Lloyd Jacobs, and his budget committee approve further cuts in this department, it is possible that more programs will be eliminated from the curriculum.
Now is the time for the student body to be heard, and to let the University know that even though we are small and located away from the main campus, we are concerned with the state of our department. We have the capacity for a great program, and we have professors who are world class, and need support from the student body so that their jobs are secure, along with our education.
Petition for the Addition of a Budget Line for a Qualified Drawing Professor
We the undersigned express our support of university spending for the department of art and their staff to support a continued drawing curriculum.
We find the budget cuts by President Jacobs and his advisory committee, to the funding of the art department, to be a blow to our collective education. We wish to express to the president and his staff, that we value both a balanced budget as well as support for a quality, well-rounded program.
The educational opportunities provided by drawing faculty are invaluable. The faculty and students, who will all be severely impacted if this situation isn%u2019t remedied, are an essential part of the creative force that impacts the surrounding areas of Toledo, and are the necessary creative minds that will foster further advances in technologies and culture.
We the undersigned do not support further budget cuts within the department nor the removal of monies allocated to the position of a drawing professor, as removed by President Jacobs, and we ask you to join us in defiance.
Thank you
