By Tandy Versyp
The College of Santa Fe (CSF) might become a new SCAD campus — SCAD-Santa Fe. CSF is a small liberal arts college in Santa Fe, N.M. with a focus on visual arts and a strong athletic program. CSF also has the only professional soundstages on a college campus — Garson Studios. Films such as “All the Pretty Horses,” “Employee of the Month,” “The Missing” and “North Country” were filmed in Garson Studios.
According to Sunny Nelson, director of communications at SCAD, the merger between the colleges has only been talked about. “Representatives of the College of Santa Fe have visited SCAD, and SCAD representatives have visited CSF. The discussions have centered around getting to know each other better and have been very preliminary. No decision has been made.”
According to an Associated Press article, The College of Santa Fe’s decision to switch its academic focus to the arts came as a result of decreased student enrollment and financial struggles. In an April 24 article printed in the Santa Fe New Mexican, CSF President Stuart Kirk explained that a partnership with SCAD could ease CSF’s financial problems. “I think it’s a recognition that the path to financial stability would be quite long for us,” Kirk said. “The strengths that a school like SCAD would bring would shorten that path a lot.”
At least one CSF student is resisting SCAD. Emily Barker, a second-year student at CSF, is adamantly against SCAD partnering with CSF. In her blog, Emily’s blog, she writes, “nobody really got concerned until the SCAD Six in the Silk Suits showed up on campus last week. By now everyone on campus has heard something about SCAD, which is a good thing — that you heard about it, not that SCAD is a good thing. SCAD is a bad thing. Let’s make that clear.”
The partnership has the potential to attract more students to CSF. The article in the Santa Fe New Mexican compares the acquisition of the Atlanta College of Art by SCAD in 2006 to the possible merger with CSF. The article states “enrollment at SCAD-Atlanta increased to 1,200 students last fall.” Bruce Chong, dean of communications at SCAD, is mentioned in the article as saying that CSF could benefit from SCAD’s recruiting system.
Jake Allen, a first-year animation student at SCAD, questions the benefits of a potential merger with the College of Santa Fe. “Unless they had some sort of advantage or improvement over the system that’s already in place in Savannah,” he said, “I wouldn’t be enticed to go there.” Mia Crandell, a third-year animation student in Savannah, is also wary. “[The location] seems a little bit arbitrary.” Although Crandell added, “It might be good for people who don’t take well to the South.”
David Stout, a former SCAD employee, now works at CSF. According to Barker’s blog, when SCAD representatives came to visit CSF, “The most outspoken faculty member against SCAD at CSF, former SCAD professor David Stout, was out of town.”
When asked to comment on the partnership, Barker and Stout declined. Barker stated, “There is too much risk for all involved, given SCAD’s history of lawsuits and gag orders, and I’m not sure it would do any good.”
Stout stated, “I will decline, as it is best not to stir up old controversies which have done more than enough damage to all parties concerned.”
The partnership between SCAD and CSF is only speculatory at the moment, but Nelson states, “SCAD remains focused on the mission of preparing our current students for professional careers through continued strengthening of SCAD-Savannah, SCAD-Atlanta, SCAD-eLearning and SCAD-Lacoste.”
