SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Marywood University students began the new school year by making their concerns heard.<\/p>\n
Dozens of students, alumni and supporters gathered on campus Monday for a peaceful demonstration focused on the future of the university\u2019s music, theatre and dance programs.<\/p>\n
The demonstration comes weeks after students publicly raised concerns about changes to their programs, communication from university administration and the condition of the Sette LaVerghetta Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n
Students say they organized Monday\u2019s event to show that, despite the university\u2019s recent academic restructuring, they remain a close-knit community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really just to show community support for the music theater and dance department, or what used to be the music theater and dance department at Marywood,\u201d said Hudson Malinowski, a Music Education major. \u201cWe\u2019re not really a banded department anymore. This was a good opportunity for us to all get together and try to have our voices heard about the issues we\u2019ve been having.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marywood announced in July that it was creating a new School of Communication, bringing together Theatre, Multimedia Communication, Film, Music Production, Digital Storytelling, Podcasting, Broadcasting, Journalism and other creative disciplines. <\/p>\n
As part of the restructuring, Theatre moved into the new School of Communication, while Music Education was administratively aligned with the School of Education.<\/p>\n
Students previously told FOX56 they had concerns about curriculum changes, reduced methods and applied music lessons, advising, accreditation and communication surrounding the changes. They also raised concerns about the condition of the Sette LaVerghetta Center, which has experienced flooding and HVAC issues.<\/p>\n
University President Lisa Lori has said Music Education students will continue completing the same National Association of Schools of Music-approved curriculum, including their required classes, lessons and ensembles. The university has also said students can take additional lessons when they are making satisfactory progress toward graduation, although those lessons may require a different payment method if they fall outside degree requirements. <\/p>\n
During Monday\u2019s demonstration, students said they appreciate that administrators have met with them, but they want to see those conversations lead to lasting changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdministration has met with us, and they have said that they are planning to create a more positive environment to make Marywood a cultural hub for the arts,\u201d said Emma Renard, a Music Education major. \u201cWe are really hoping to see that and we\u2019re going to hold them to their promises.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renard said students also want to preserve the sense of community they have built within the arts programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what you can put us in a different building or say we\u2019re something else, but we\u2019re still going to be the MTD and we\u2019re still going to work together and still make beautiful music and have beautiful theater performances and dance,\u201d Renard said.<\/p>\n
Malinowski said students are specifically looking for more transparency from university leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping for a lot more transparency,\u201d Malinowski said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping that administration considers what we have to say today and in the future. I hope that we continue to have more open conversations and honesty from the administration about what their plan is for all our programs together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marywood says the restructuring is intended to strengthen its arts programs and prepare students for careers in an increasingly interdisciplinary creative industry. The university says the School of Communication will give students more opportunities to work across theatre, film, journalism, broadcasting, music production and other fields. <\/p>\n
Lindsey Wotanis, director of the new School of Communication, said the university is investing in its programs rather than moving away from the arts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re actually investing in programs. We\u2019re trying to grow our programs,\u201d Wotanis said. \u201cLisa Lori, since she\u2019s become president, has been committed to Marywood becoming a cultural hub for Northeastern Pennsylvania and getting more people through our doors to see musical performances, theater shows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wotanis said university leaders also support the students\u2019 decision to demonstrate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe support their right to speak out and want to support their program as well,\u201d she said. \u201cI know going forward there\u2019s going to be open dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said students who have concerns about equipment or facilities should continue bringing those issues to administrators.<\/p>\n
Marywood also announced Monday a new partnership with the Scranton Shakespeare Festival, making the festival the university\u2019s resident professional theatre company. The university says the partnership will give students opportunities to work alongside professional actors, directors, designers, technicians and producers. (Marywood University)<\/p>\n
The university says the partnership is part of its broader goal of becoming a cultural hub for Northeastern Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
For students, however, Monday\u2019s demonstration was about making sure their concerns remain part of the conversation.<\/p>\n
Malinowski said students hope their presence shows that they still consider the performing arts building their home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that it shows them that they have a home in this building,\u201d Malinowski said. \u201cThis building is our home despite the numerous issues that we\u2019ve had with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students and administrators say they expect the dialogue to continue as the new academic structure gets underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Marywood University students began the new school year by making their concerns heard.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-271650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}