Ariana Bronson, Rod Dixon, and Shawna Purdy-Beaver are among the HACC arts students who are protesting the cuts to arts elective courses for the Fall 2018 semester.
Shawna Purdy-Beaver was 43 years old when she first sat behind a pottery wheel. After raising two daughters as a single mother, she began taking classes in photography, ceramics and glass blowing to pursue her passion for the arts.
Four years later, Purdy-Beaver is working towards dual associates degrees in Arts and Business Administration at Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC). She hopes one day to open her own arts education facility in Harrisburg.
“I want a facility where you can come and learn at any age,” Purdy-Beaver said. “If you’re 80 and you want to learn glass, it’s there. If you’re 20 and you want to learn ceramics, it’s there.”
But right now, she and a cadre of her classmates have a more immediate concern—convincing administrators at HACC to restore classes that were dropped from the fall 2018 course catalog.
HACC announced on March 23 that it would not offer six of its art elective courses—two ceramics courses, three glassblowing courses and one introductory silkscreen printing course—in the fall semester. The announcement came three days before course registration opened.
Students say they felt blindsided by the reduced offerings. A petition calling for HACC to restore the courses had garnered almost 16,000 signatures by April 2. Written by a group of HACC students, the petition argues that HACC offers an affordable, high-quality arts education that’s unrivaled in the area.
“Communities with access to art programs are more vibrant and healthy, and community colleges, like HACC, have an enormous impact on the lives of people across our community and region to access this education,” the petition reads.
Jennie Baar, dean of Academic Programs at HACC, said that the community college plans to bring the courses back on a rotating basis in future semesters. She reported that changes to federal financial aid guidelines have affected the ability of students to enroll in elective courses, which has led HACC to reduce some of its elective offerings across different departments.
“The entire administration is in support of the liberal arts at HACC, and what we’re trying to do is maintain our quality of education and our access to affordable education,” Baar said. “I’m hoping that in the next few weeks, we’ll be able to provide students with a host of other options.”
Barr explained that students cannot use federal financial aid to pay for courses that do not contribute to their degree. Most degree programs do require electives—for instance, an arts student like Purdy-Beaver can apply a ceramics elective to her arts degree and can therefore pay for it with financial aid dollars. But students outside of the arts degree program cannot use financial aid dollars to take arts electives.
HACC administrators recently reviewed fall 2018 schedules to determine if any current courses were not part of degree programs, according to a March 28 statement. As a result, six art electives, as well as electives in other disciplines, were cut from the fall schedule.
Baar said that HACC will continue to offer some non-degree elective courses under its workforce education and continuing education divisions. She is also working with members of the art faculty to set a reliable rotating elective schedule, which could take effect as early as next spring.
Even so, students enrolled in the Associate in Arts (AA) program say that the cuts will disadvantage students who wish to transfer to four-year institutions, or those who are honing their crafts as working artists.
“HACC offers arts facilities that nobody else in the area has,” said Ariana Bronson, a ceramics artist pursuing her AA. “We have better facilities than four-year institutions and at a better price. Without HACC, I would have gone to a four-year college I couldn’t afford.”
Bronson has taken advanced ceramics at HACC once for credit and is currently auditing it for a second semester so she can build her portfolio. She planned to take it again in the fall until she learned the course had been cut.
“Without advanced ceramics, my work for my portfolio ceases,” Bronson said. “I need the facilities to make work and to put it into my portfolio.”
Once she finishes her AA, Bronson plans to apply to a four-year institution to complete her bachelor’s degree in fine arts. She said that limiting arts courses will deprive students of facilities and mentorship and make them less competitive for scholarships.
Rod Dixon, who has been pursuing his AA at HACC for four years while working full-time, fears his education in glass-blowing will be put on hold next semester. He’s taken two glass classes at HACC and was hoping to take a third, more advanced glass course in the fall.
“These cuts will get rid of advanced crafts class in glass, which is the class I am taking to build and perfect my skills,” said Dixon, who hopes to one day open a glass studio and retail business. “My goal is to take what I learn at HACC and turn it into my next career. A big part is having access to instructors and classes and facilities to be able to do that, and, without it, my future plans are likely not going to be a reality.”
Purdy-Beaver agreed that the advanced course offerings are critical for students who want to perfect a craft. She pointed out that students get unlimited access to studios and facilities as part of their tuition—access that they could lose if they can’t enroll in courses.
“The thing about the arts is that you have to keep working on it,” Purdy-Beaver said. “The time you have to put in to blow glass, paint, draw, make ceramics or do metalworking – it’s hours and hours of your life, in and outside the classroom. You need open access to the facilities.”
Purdy-Beaver and Dixon added that even with robust course options, students who work full-time or raise families have significant constraints on their schedules. They say it could get worse with fewer course offerings.
“I haven’t registered for next semester yet because the classes I need aren’t there,” said Dixon, who can only take evening and weekend courses.
The students who discovered new and unexpected passions at HACC say they’ll keep working to bring back the arts classes – not just for themselves, but for future students too.
Alexis Reisch, the student who drafted the petition after HACC announced its cuts, said that she took a glass elective on a whim and fell in love with the art form.
“If I was starting at HACC this fall, glass wouldn’t be an option for me,” Reisch said. “This affects current students and anyone who comes to HACC in the future.”
