EJ JACOBS
Life & Arts Editor
Every student has personal and unique experiences and feelings towards the 13 programs up for potential discontinuation.
With the changes to Fredonia’s academic offerings, some students are thinking about what got them to the SUNY Fredonia campus in the first place.
“I actually originally picked Fredonia for their animation illustration program, which I feel like a lot of art majors do,” said Jasper Glow, a senior sculpture major.
However, this opportunity may not be available to future Fredonia students with the recent cuts.
Glow added that they then switched to sculpture halfway through their freshman year.
Due to the many offered majors within art, Glow was able to switch to what they wanted to do without having to transfer universities.
“The reputation of Fredonia as an art school is screwed,” said Glow. “No one wants to go to a campus where there is not a variety in their art program.”
Going into the world with the skills learned in the Visual Arts and New Media programs are seen as beneficial to having a well-rounded education to future employers.
Glow has noticed this as well.
“Through sculpture, I learned welding, and I could go into a trade school for welding and then could be an incredibly successful welder,” said Glow.
He feels that if students aren’t given the opportunity to learn more about their major, they might be lowering their ability as well as their knowledge in other areas.
Right now, students like Glow are looking for an explanation as to why these program cuts are a reality for SUNY Fredonia students. Students are now demanding numbers and statistics.
“[Administration] knows that whatever they’re going to show isn’t going to back up these decisions,” said Glow. “They know that this isn’t the only way they could deal with this — it’s just the one that they like.”
Glow also spoke about the number of people in the programs and more on how the arts feel targeted as a whole for being the programs on the agenda to be discontinued.
“Meanwhile, there are programs with like two people in them that are still remaining,” said Glow.
Overall, students, staff and the community are hoping to be given adequate information.