USC Roski fiasco points to the corrosion of Art Education nationwide

ARTNET | NEWS
By Sean Jay Patrick Carney

USC Roski School of Art, 2008. Photo Vincent Diamante, via Flickr.

Last month's bold decision by an entire MFA class to drop out in protest over mistreatment by school administrators dramatically highlights systemic problems in art education from coast to coast. Seven graduate students at the University of Southern California's Roski School of Art and Design left the school on May 15 over the school administration's changes to their promised funding, faculty and curriculum. Over the last several years, USC's MFA program has been viewed as a model of what a graduate experience in studio art should look like: generous scholarship packages, teaching assistantships with cash awards, close ties to Los Angeles cultural institutions like MOCA, and a who's-who list of visiting artists and faculty. [link]