Please sign and share this petition to save the Dana School of Music, where YSU Administration is cutting programs and majors and has just eliminated 40% of the full-time faculty positions.
Note that any donation you give on this site is going to change.org (to "help spread the word" about the petition) and not to the Save Dana campaign. We have neither solicited nor received any donations.
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**UPDATE 2/20
Interim Provost Dr. Jennifer Pintar was "delighted" to announce yesterday that eight of Dana's twenty full-time faculty positions have been eliminated. Faculty members, facing the stark choice of taking a buyout or being fired without cause and leaving with nothing, picked the former option.
Next year, Dana will have no full-time wind ensemble director, orchestra conductor, choral conductor, theory teacher, history teacher, or piano lab teacher. Nearly every class and nearly every ensemble taken by nearly every Dana student will be taught by an adjunct instructor making appallingly low pay per hour. Dana has lost both its String Project and YSUYO leaders.
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**UPDATE 1/17
We don't have much new information to report, but we've responded to Dr. Pintar's January 10 Academic Senate presentation, over at save-dana.com. Please keep sharing this petition to those who might not have seen it, and keep writing YSU Administration and the Board of Trustees.
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**UPDATE 1/13
Yesterday, Dana faculty received a seniority list and offers of VSRP (Voluntary Separation or Retirement Program). Here's what that means:
Contractually, before they can retrench faculty (fire them without cause), YSU Administration must release a seniority list of those faculty, because in principle, they are supposed to retrench the most junior faculty first. (YSU Administration has violated that rule in the past, and a neutral judge restored the jobs of those faculty members, costing YSU hundreds of thousands of dollars.) The seniority list is supposed to be arranged by "major," and all Dana faculty therefore should be listed with a "major" of Music, since all Dana faculty teach all music students! A "major" of Music would also be consistent with faculty appointment letters and contracts. However, YSU is cherry-picking which faculty can be retrenched by sub-dividing them further.
Dr. Pintar announced in her speech on Wednesday that in addition to sunsetting (shutting down) four smaller programs with no designated faculty, modifications were being made to the Music Performance program. (Although to date, no changes have been made to the Music Performance program; her premature decision to reduce faculty from that major is therefore a contract violation.) Fifteen out of Dana's twenty faculty have been arbitrarily assigned a "major" of Music Performance, and are therefore retrenchable. One Dana faculty has been assigned a "major" which doesn't exist, Music History and Literature! An unknown number of these sixteen faculty members will be retrenched by January 31, unless a sufficient number of them take the VSRP.
VSRP is a buyout, a "voluntary retirement" package which is anything but voluntary (since the choice is: volunteer or be fired). Faculty who accept the VSRP will receive 80% of their annual take-home pay for one year, in order to leave quietly. The VSRP has been offered to all tenure-track and tenured faculty who have been assigned majors of Music Performance and Music History & Literature. Faculty have until January 24 to make a decision as to whether to take the VSRP. Unless a sizable number of faculty accept the VSRP, YSU Administration will retrench additional faculty between January 24 and 31.
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**UPDATE 1/12
Protest cuts to Dana TONIGHT! 9pm at Beeghly Center, where a basketball game will be broadcast live on ESPN2. (Tickets are free with a YSU student ID.)
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**UPDATE 1/11
Protest!! YSU will have a national audience on Friday night, January 12, at 9pm, when Men's Basketball plays a game which will be broadcast live on ESPN2. Tickets are free for current students with a YSU ID. Go to the game, cheer on Dana students in the pep band, and let your voice be heard in support of music, the degree programs YSU Admin is shutting down, and the up-to-thirteen Dana faculty members YSU will be firing without cause in the next month!
Please note the official Beeghly Center policy: "Fans are not permitted to bring and display banners at Beeghly Center, as they may interfere with the game and other guests' enjoyment of the game. Youngstown State University reserves the right to remove banners and signs. Poles and/or sticks are also prohibited."
#savedana and #lovemusic
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**UPDATE 1/10
Today outside Tod Hall, approximately 100 supporters braved freezing weather, rain, snow, and even a light hailstorm, to make noise in support of music and the Dana School.
At the same time, Acting Provost Pintar gave an online presentation to YSU's Academic Senate, making public the Administration's recently altered plans for the Dana School of Music. She confirmed that YSU will shut down Dana's BM in Music Composition, MM in Music Composition, MM in Jazz Studies, and BA in Music, along with several other programs across campus. She confirmed that thirteen full-time professors in several disciplines—an unknown but likely sizable number of them from Dana's twenty—will lose their jobs.
Several Dana faculty and current students, allotted only two minutes each, spoke in support of the Dana school. Dr. Ewelina Boczkowska's statement on behalf of the entire music faculty was particularly pointed:
"First, the program evaluation metrics [used by Pintar to justify these cuts] contain objective errors. Over the past two years the music program has grown by over 10%, including a 63% increase in graduate students, outpacing the growth of YSU at large. Gray Associates and Provost Smith acknowledged using flawed methods to arrive at "1% Employment Demand," and we have minutes to support this.
"Second, this assault on the arts ignores how the School of Music has benefited the quality of life in the Valley. We are a 150-year-old music school, pre-dating the institution which became YSU. A petition to save Dana has drawn 20,000 signatures in three days, clearly showing that the community values what we do.
"Third, regarding Article 13 [the portion of the faculty contract which governs "retrenchment"], all Dana faculty were arbitrarily assigned to majors that are different from our appointment letters. I was personally assigned to a major that doesn't even exist. Every faculty attempt to correct these errors was rejected without any justification.
"In conclusion, if this proceeds, the decision to cut programs and faculty will have been based on false enrollment and employment data, arbitrary assignments of major, and a misunderstanding of the music profession that makes up 3% of the national economy.
"20% of the Music faculty left YSU just last year. The School of Music needs stability to enhance its growth and quality. Or, imagine sporting events, churches, schools, bars and restaurants, museums and concert halls throughout the region without music. Please do not retrench in the Dana School of Music."
We'll have further updates as new information comes in, as well as an analysis of Pintar's presentation at save-dana.com within a few days.
#lovemusic and #savedana
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**UPDATE 1/9
Two simultaneous events are taking place Wednesday, January 10, at 4pm:
Online, Acting Provost Jennifer Pintar will give a presentation to YSU's Academic Senate, attempting to justify cutting Dana's (and other) programs. This can be attended at the following link: https://ysu.webex.com/ysu/j.php?MTID=m213476a1a586953944920d5448cdf2ad
Meeting number: 2313 583 2801Password: K9vJ5jnqS3n
In person, we'll have a raucous celebration of Dana and all things music, outside YSU's Tod Hall. Come make a great noise, and bring #lovemusic and #savedana signs.
We highly encourage you to come to both events at once!
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**UPDATE 1/8
The University response to the Save Dana website and petition has been remarkable.
Within a few hours of save-dana.com going live, it was blocked across YSU campus.Within about 16 hours of the website and petition going live, YSU announced a series of somewhat different cuts than Administration had presented to the Board of Trustees last month. They now plan to eliminate Dana's complete Composition program, the MM in Jazz Studies, and the BA in Music (as well as four degree programs outside of Dana). They plan to fire 13 total professors, an unknown number of them from among Dana's 20 full-time faculty.YSU Administrators have launched a barrage of propaganda—with various statements posted on social media, emailed to constituents, and sent to the press—all designed to minimize the impact of these cuts. (An analysis of one such statement is available at save-dana.com, where there's more room for lengthy text.)
Keep signing, keep sharing, and keep writing!
Two days ago, YSU was ready to slash Dana so severely that it wouldn’t survive the wounds. It was only an outpouring of rage and support from YOU, the community, that led YSU to somewhat reduce the depth of the cuts. But these cuts are absolutely unacceptable.
Dana's programs, and its students, are interwoven. All functional schools of music offer composition degrees; composition students help drive the creativity and relevance of a music program. Students enrolled in our MM in Composition and MM in Jazz Studies are essential leaders in the Dana community and role-models for undergraduate students. (And they teach undergraduate classes, saving YSU money!) Dana has lost 16% of its faculty in the last five years, and cannot afford to lose more.
#lovemusic and help #savedana. All of Dana!
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**UPDATE 1/7
On the morning of January 7, Chet Cooper, Chair of YSU’s Academic Senate, sent out a message to all Senators to distribute to their constituencies: “As a reminder, there will be a special meeting of the Academic Senate this coming Wednesday, January 10th, at 4:00 PM. ... The sole agenda item shall be hearing the Administration provide the data and information generated by a review of overall staff needs based upon potential programmatic changes. … [T]he following programs/majors are impacted: ... Music Composition … and Music Performance.”
YSU’s intention to shut down those two Dana majors—as of this morning!—is consistent with all other information this past month.
On the evening of January 7, the University released a statement “addressing misinformation” ... “in response to social media posts,” that it was not closing down the BM Music Performance or the complete Graduate program, but only the BM in Composition, the BA in Music, the MM in Composition, and the MM in Jazz Studies. “The Dana School of Music will undergo an immediate reorganization to enhance and rejuvenate the school to better serve students and improve the marketability of graduates.”
What does all this tell us?
1) We are being gaslighted, and
2) We still have more work to do, and
3) Your posts are working! Because what happened between morning and evening on January 7? As of the time of this edit, save-dana.com had more than 10,000 unique views, and this petition had gathered more than 6300 signatures.
Keep the pressure on the YSU Board and Administration. They should not be shuttering any music programs at Dana. Empty-suit administrators should not be reorganizing a School of Music to fit their idea of marketability—particularly a school like Dana with thousands of successful graduates thriving throughout the region, the nation, and the world. This community matters, and your voice matters, and the Dana School of Music matters.
#lovemusic
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**Original Post 1/6
YSU Administration is effectively dismantling the Dana School of Music, a beacon for the arts in the Northeast Ohio region with a 150+ year history.
On December 6, the Associate Provost presented the Board of Trustees with verifiably false enrollment data about the Dana School of Music. In the coming weeks, the Administration plans to end Dana's undergraduate Music Performance and Music Composition programs, shut down its Graduate music program, and fire a large portion of the music faculty. Dana will not be able to survive those cuts, and in a short amount of time the entire school with its storied history will be lost.
Further details will be known on January 10 at 4pm, when the Administration will attempt to justify (to the Academic Senate) its Master Plan to destroy the Dana School of Music. At that time, join a peaceful—and very very loud—protest outside YSU's Tod Hall. Bring #savedana and #lovemusic signs, and make your voice (and music) be heard!
Only you can help Save Dana! YSU's Board of Trustees needs to know that they were deceived by the Administration. The Administration needs to know that the public won't stand for this. Please sign, and share the petition on social media, and spread the word about this outrage!
More information can be found at save-dana.com.
#lovemusic
