Bad Bones

The closure of the University of the Arts was a shock. Should it have been?

by Iona Clark

EXCERPT //

Dorrance Hamilton Hall at the now-shuttered University of the Arts used to remind me of a museum. It was the Philadelphia university’s main and most recognizable building, with four Greek Revival stone pillars and a large set of stairs leading up to the entrance on the northwest corner of Pine and Broad streets, the latter of which is also known as the Avenue of the Arts. Most of the university’s buildings are just blocks south of Philadelphia’s iconic Gothic Revival City Hall. North of the massive structure is Temple University, where I’m a student in the journalism program.

A few days after the June 27 University of the Arts closure blindsided everyone but the board of trustees, I visited the disheartening scene at Hamilton. Students were camped out on the staircase, many holding signs and chanting, and the air was filled with anger and sadness. Rather than hurrying to painting studios or design critiques, some students were in the midst of moving their supplies out, lugging them down the stairs to who-knows-where.

Many former University of the Arts students received the news not through a school email, announcement, or any official university channel; instead they were informed of it via social media or through local news outlets. I tried to speak to some students, but they were mostly concerned with keeping up their chants and creating protest signs. One sign, plastered to the stone siding of the building, read, “I found out on Instagram.” //

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Culture Files // AVENUE OF THE BROKEN HEARTS