From: Chris Kennedy (email suppressed)
Date: Wed Apr 15 2009 - 20:08:53 PDT
Hey Brett,
Thanks for raising this.
My assumption is that the administration is basically hoping it can hold its
breath as long as they can, or at least until the current cohort of students
who care deeply about these faculty clear out (the wonders of short term
memory). There hasn't been quite enough press and I think their assumption
is that the art world won't notice, or won't respond. The fact that one of
the deans responsible for the firings is superstar curator Okwui Enwezor
probably has a significant chilling effect on art publications raising this
issue (unlike, say, the news item about a similar event at Parsons in the
NYT that Art Forum recently linked to).
It's unfortunately another case of administrators using the cover of crisis
to settle scores or make unpopular changes in an institution. I believe this
is called the Shock Doctrine in the political sphere... The Dean himself
told a group of CCA curatorial students a year and a half ago that the
particular crises of a school like SFAI was fertile ground for significant
changes. Wish I had the specific quote...
Hopefully the letters of Steve and others will generate some much needed
publicity. The petition is currently at about 650 signatures. Be nice to get
it over a thousand. I know this list has 700 members...
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sfaivotes/signatures.html
Think about it. I might even throw in an Obama button...
At the very least, the petition serves as a series of strong testimonials as
to the strengths of the fired faculty. I'm a recent grad and I can attest
that two of the professors (Janis Lipzin and John Rapko) had a significant
impact to my own practice and I have seen secondhand the impact that at
least two of the others had on many others....
http://sfaistudentaction.pbwiki.com/ for those interested.
Best,
Chris
On 4/15/09 10:22 PM, "FRAMEWORKS automatic digest system"
<email suppressed> wrote:
> Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:31:26 -0700
> From: Brett Kashmere <email suppressed>
> Subject: SFAI - What's happening?
>
> Apologies in advance if this subject has already been broached on Frameworks
> and slipped past me, but I've recently learned of the San Francisco Art
> Institute's decision to fire nine tenured faculty members, including Janis
> Crystal Lipzin, who has been at the Institute for over 30 years. I'm
> wondering what we can do collectively and as individuals to address the
> situation. Steve Anker has written a very eloquent and impassioned letter
> that is now circulating, and which can be read here (along with some
> additional letters):
> http://sfaistudentaction.pbwiki.com/Letters-From-the-Outside-Art-World
>
> Steve's letter is dated April 3rd. I'm curious what the administration's
> response has been since then, and if there are any other updates?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Brett Kashmere
> Oberlin College
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