When facing the music means less musical campus
College says finances force big cuts to cherished area of study
The first degree bestowed by the College of Saint Rose was in music education nearly 100 years ago. Music played an increasingly prominent role in the academic mix and student life during the ensuing years. In 1997, the department received accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Music. In 2008 the $14 million Massry Center for the Arts was opened on Madison Avenue with the vast majority of its 46,000 square feet of space devoted to the music department, which still maintained offices and classrooms in two other campus buildings.
That rich legacy was delivered a stinging blow in early December when the college announced the elimination of 16 degree programs in order to achieve $6 million in annual savings during a time of extreme financial constraint. Of the four undergraduate degree programs offered by the music department, the only one remaining will be a bachelor of science in music industry. The decision affects six departments and will result in the elimination of 22 percent of full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty positions. Yet the cuts to the music department are far more severe with a 78 percent reduction — or 14 fulltime faculty positions — in the number of such positions by year’s end.
A chorus of concerned students, parents and alumni has risen up during the past month. The affected faculty are also making efforts to be
heard. According to department chair Sherwood Wise, two of those music teachers are opting to take retirement. Another source within the department says that most of the tenured faculty have jointly engaged legal counsel to represent them in an appeals process to the college’s Faculty Review Committee.
While it’s not easy to fire tenured faculty, Wise says there is a procedure to do so and institutional retrenchment can be considered a valid reason for such action. “It’s a lengthy process with a lot of redundancies,” adds Wise, who is one of those in the department whose position is slated for elimination. He’s in his 12th year at Saint Rose. Among the other endangered faculty, some have been there more than 20 years.
The college has added to its website a lengthy page of frequently asked questions about the program closures. The answers to queries about music and arts acknowledge that the cuts were “gutwrenching,” while also stating: “The cost of delivering these programs exceeds income by hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.”
The web page also offers some statistics on the music department where overall enrollment was down 15 percent in the last five years. The highly lauded music education program had an enrollment falloff of 43% over the last 10 years. Wise does not dispute those numbers but says the downward trend in music enrollment is actually less severe then with the declining numbers of the larger institution. He also says that the education program was being rebuilt and beginning to attract more students prior to the pandemic. It is the only music ed degree offered in the region.
Another statistic is the student to teacher ratio, which is 14-1 for the institution but 6-1 for music. This disparity is because private lessons are an essential part of the curriculum. Wise says that lessons require extra fees from students and are therefore not an additional financial burden.
The music industry program is by far the most popular of the four music degrees at Saint Rose. Its enrollment of 100 students is more than that of the other three programs combined. Wise and other observers point out that the industry students benefit from the larger musical atmosphere where they participated in chorus, band and orchestra and produced recordings of their peers. Music industry students are still practicing musicians though and they must pass an audition prior to acceptance. Their private lessons may provide some level of continued employment for the department’s 35 adjunct faculty members.
Percussionist Daniel Gonzalez, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Saint
Rose about 10 years ago, recalls that he chose the college for the faculty and the available scholarships but also because of the location. “To be in a music scene was really important. It was great to be in easy proximity by bus to The Egg and Proctors,” recalls Gonzalez who is currently pursuing a PH.D. in higher education at the University of Minnesota.
Though he’s located halfway across the country, Gonzalez is actively engaged with some 250 others in the Facebook group College of Saint Rose Music Alumni. Their campaign to reverse the cuts includes establishing an online petition at change.org, sending coordinated email blasts to interim president Marcia White and others, setting up a music faculty defense fund on Gofundme.com., and producing a “Happy Birthday” video for Saint Rose’s 100th anniversary.
It’s not just alumni and students who are dreading the cutbacks at Saint Rose. Whether they realize it or not, music lovers across the region have benefited from the presence of the department. The music education program brought generations of aspiring teachers into the region and many of them stuck around after graduation to pass along their skills and knowledge to elementary and high school students. The Picotte Recital Hall in the Massry Center has presented an array of top international talents in jazz, Latin and rock through the Premiere Performances series, and the faculty members who comprise the Saint Rose Camerata have offered an annual series of thoughtful and unique chamber music programs. Finally, there’s the Sunday morning churchgoers whose worship services have been more beautiful because their music director and probably much of their choir was trained at Saint
Rose.
“Everyone was shocked at how deep the cuts were. The impact on the community will be profoundly negative. This program has drawn fantastic people to the Capital Region,” says Dan Foster, who is a choral conductor, pianist and singer.
Among those people who came to the region is Foster’s wife, Sabrina Manna. She’s a soprano who graduated from the music ed program at Saint Rose and currently teaches elementary school music in the Averill Park Central School District. Foster is director of music at Congregation Berith Sholom in Troy and St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran in Albany and he estimates that as much as 80 percent of the members of his professional choirs are Saint Rose grads.
Foster is also part of the team at the college, where he serves as an accompanist for student recitals. Prior to the end of every term his schedule is jammed. One weekend last year he played for 11 different programs, which is evidence not just of Foster’s stamina but also the wealth of music happening at the college.
Back in 2007, Foster established his own chamber choir, the Aoede Consort. The a capella group specialized in early music and sang in the vast acoustics of St. Patrick’s Church, an 1840 landmark in Watervliet. When the edifice was knocked down in 2014 to make way for a Price Chopper, the choir disbanded.
“You find a place where you’re enjoying your musical work with wonderful people and then they bulldoze your church or close your department,” says Foster. “It’s occasionally heartbreaking to be in the arts.”
Everyone was shocked at how deep the cuts were. The impact on the community will be profoundly negative. This program has drawn fantastic people to the Capital Region.”
— Dan Foster