June 20, 2024
Students and Staff Grapple With the Sudden Closure of University of the Arts
By Finn Cooley
Administrators announced the closure with little warning on May 31. “It was like a slap in the face or a punch in the gut. It just didn’t feel real.”
(Lucy Tobier)
On June 7, over 200 students, faculty, and community members rallied outside of Hamilton Hall to protest the closing of Pennsylvania’s University of the Arts. Administrators announced the closure to its faculty, staff, and students with little warning on May 31, e-mailing just hours after The Philadelphia Inquirer broke the news, citing “declining enrollments, declining revenues, and increasing expenses” and “significant, unanticipated expenses.”
“It was like a slap in the face or a punch in the gut. It just didn’t feel real,” said Asher Vagilca, a UArts class of 2025 theater production student. “I don’t think anyone actually thought we would close this soon or at all. I really don’t think anyone knew this was coming, except for the people up top, who decided not to tell us.”
After the closure announcement, UArts President Kerry Walk resigned and three separate lawsuits were filed by faculty and students for insufficient notice of termination—a violation of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act—and failure to uphold tuition contracts. UArts did not respond to comment requests, but representatives from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education which accredits colleges said they do not know the reasons for and conditions of the closure during a webinar on June 14.
