Interim President Emily Cutrer announced through an email on Jan. 22 the eliminations, closures, mergers and consolidations of more than 30 programs and majors at SSU; including the elimination of the Theatre Arts and Dance Program.
The arts community at the university is undergoing drastic changes as a result of these eliminations, leaving uncertain futures for many students and staff who were part of these departments.
The email, sent on a weekday at 10:31 a.m., caught students and staff by surprise as many were still in their classes either instructing or learning. “It has traumatized [the students],” said Scott Horstein, professor and director of the Theatre Studies Program, in an email. “[The students] are furious that the transfer deadline is past. To see their professors’ lives ripped apart in front of them is deeply disturbing. The news has also galvanized the students – they are doing amazing organizing to save SSU.”
Cutrer’s announcement has been criticized by staff for releasing this information to the SSU community without hosting a meeting or phone call with the affected department directors prior. The biggest reason for the university’s deficit is attributed to the declining enrollment rate which has dropped about 38% since 2015. With numerous programs being cut from the university, students looking towards Sonoma State as their college of choice no longer have that option since their desired programs may have been eliminated.
As for the current student body, students in the Dance Program with a total of 60 units of graduation credits by the end of Spring 2025 will be able to finish their degrees. “I will be sure that our dance majors land in a new dance program that gives them everything they deserve and more, so they can excel, learn, thrive, create and grow. I will miss [the students] so much.”
Kristen Daley said, professor and co-director of the Dance Program.
The Sonoma State website describes the Dance Program as an opportunity to learn dance and movement studies founded on anti-racist practices and educational approaches that emphasize dance as a universal and cultural activity. For the past five to seven years, faculty working for the Dance Department have made continuous efforts to keep their program running at the university.
“The staff of the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance and SSU’s Center for Performing Arts was summarily cut by over 60% by administration in the last 5 years without consultation.” Horstein said. “But the faculty and remaining staff banded together and used this challenge as an opportunity to renew our department with powerful new systems and a more streamlined focus. We are incredibly creative and adaptable and can be a part of productive change, but not if we are eliminated outright.”
Over the years the department was asked to cut several classes, making it more difficult to advocate for the program.
“We were asked to cut so many required courses in our major and were working in a skeleton of a curriculum, it seemed harder and harder to advocate for the arts, for dance and for theater, for embodiment, expressivity and creativity at SSU,” Daley said. Although the news was shocking, she said she was not completely surprised at this announcement due to the ongoing fight that program directors faced to keep the Dance Program running.
Daley said that this impact is devastating to the university across all departments and academics. The elimination of the Theatre Arts and Dance Program, in addition to the closures and consolidations of over 30 other programs, depicts a substantial loss for the Sonoma State community. Regardless of the uncertainty, Daley said her main focus is on her students and four spring courses, ensuring that they have an incredibly spectacular and transformative semester.
Horstein said that the program’s Community Jazz Dance Concert will still be held May 1 to May 3, at Person Theatre from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., and on May 4, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. They are hopeful that this event will not be their last.
Although students and staff are traumatized, they are continuing to “joyfully and vigorously” create art while fighting these budget cuts, Horstein said.