May 2- 8, 2002
artsbeat
A group of Temple arts students is up in arms over the future of their program. Temple is in the process of reconfiguring its budget in the wake of negotiations with the Temple University Graduate Student Association (TUGSA). Temple’s graduate theater department, a part of its School of Communications and Theater (SCAT), consists of 25 students, many of whom were drawn to the school by the offer of assistantships in their field of study. An assistantship for an arts grad student is roughly equivalent to a science or literature grad student working in a lab or being a teaching assistant as part of their study/employment. Theater assistantships account for many of the designers, directors and actors in Temple Theater’s six mainstage productions per season. A possible budget plan calls for six assistantships formerly allocated to the theater department to be redistributed to other departments within SCAT.
The theater grad students have formed the "Save Our Program Committee," claiming that the loss of those six assistantships could severely impact the department, to the point where half of the scheduled shows in a given season might need to be canceled for lack of people and funds. The committee fears that Temple's reputation as a theater school will drop, as will enrollment, until the program is virtually destroyed.
Lindsay Smiling, a theater grad student and a spokesperson for the committee, says that the new plan would "cheat [theater] students out of an education." Smiling says the group has tried repeatedly to meet with SCAT's dean, Concetta Stewart, but has been continuously given the runaround. "We're kind of at a loss right now," Smiling says, "because everything we've done we've gotten very little response." The students tried to go straight to the top, but were told by Temple that issues like this must first go through the school's dean, Stewart. "We've been stalled as far as going to higher powers," Smiling says with frustration. "Within the graduate department there are several people who are considering leaving," if the assistantships are taken from the department, Smiling says.
Smiling claims that the faculty in his department are supportive of the students in this matter, but are hesitant to take any direct action. Theater department chair Donna Snow declined to comment on the record and referred questions to Dean Stewart.
Stewart insists that the hullabaloo is premature at best, as "no decisions have been made" about assistantships. "We still don't have our budget," she says, and adds that the TUGSA agreement is pending approval from Temple's board, so she and other administrators at the school are still in the dark about the "exact terms and conditions of what has now become graduate student employment."
Stewart is responsible for distributing limited funds among five departments within SCAT, including one Ph.D. program in mass media, two MFA programs in theater and film and two masters programs. "Our goal in the funding that we end up with is to favor the terminal degrees," says Stewart, referring to those fields in which Temple can offer the highest possible degree (theater, film and mass media). "They are the gems, if you will. You bring people in from around the country to improve the reputation of your graduate programs. ... Without going into the details of budget, there are 250 grad students [in terminal degree programs], 25 [of those] in theater. My goal is to look at some more equitable distribution in my terminal degree programs." There are 3,000 students total at SCAT.
Stewart says she is just as interested in resolving this issue, as "recruiting season is well under way at other institutions, people already have their offers and we want to be competitive. You don't want to be in a position of being ready to go out and make your offer and nothing's left. We would have loved to have seen [the final budget] a while ago and we are heartened that the student body did ratify a contract and now it goes to our board. ... We have a larger and larger number of students, and we don't see that kind of increase in funding."
As for her relationship with the theater students, Stewart says, "We've been apprising them of basically what I told you. ... Unfortunately I don't have the answers and that's not always what people want to hear. I can't manufacture the information, I wish I could."
Smiling, who claims that "the decision has already been made," organized a student protest on Monday while Stewart met with theater department faculty. Several local theater companies, including the Arden, Lantern and 1812 Productions have written letters to Stewart asking her not to make the cuts to the program. Amy Lincoln, associate artistic director for the Arden, wrote: "Philadelphia has a burgeoning theatre community. We are gaining national recognition for being a theatre town.' The vitality of our growth is exciting. Temple graduates have been a large part of our growth and success. Part of the Arden's mission is to maintain a strong commitment to hiring Philadelphia artists. We believe that through a strong local community, great art is possible. I urge you to consider that while determining the future of your School of Communications and Theater."
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