Nothing captures and arouses a sense of magnificence, pride and nationalism like the bronzed statues of favored leaders on horseback. These ornaments have inspired numerous generations of great leaders. Think of the proud monument to Nicholas I in Saint Petersburg, which a young Stalin would have looked up to with dreams of greatness. At SCAD, we don’t have a long history of oppressive rule or proud equestrian statuary, but we do have a new equestrian studies minor. And how very minor indeed.
The equestrian has a long history of importance and presence in art, but does it have the same at an art school? It’s hard to see the distinction between a scholarly subject and a leisurely pastime that a small population with great income and a long history of family names indulge in. It also must be one of the more expensive minors despite its reasonably short supply list. It seems this program is only a way to appease the same population who enjoy a pastime on horseback. This is only an assumption, but logic lends itself to it nicely.
The new Ronald C. Waranch Equestrian Center currently hosts 22 students that make up SCAD’s equestrian team. If 50 students take part in the new equestrian minor, estimating our student body is around 8,000 students, then 0.6% of the student population would be taking part in the program. Even with 100 students, that would be less than 1% participating in the minor. If we had a student government, they would surely object.
In all fairness, there is artistic merit in the equestrian arts, but really no more than there is in figure skating, gymnastics or skateboarding. Taking demographics into account, it seems more reasonable to have added a fixed-gear studies minor. Many students might agree that the resources needed for this program could be put to a more reasonable use. Isn’t this the sort of frivolity that caused 18th-century Frenchmen to storm Versailles?
