3 October 2006
Professor Mark Spaulding
President, Faculty Senate
Morton Hall 105C Box 5957
Dear Mark,
We the undersigned chairs of the arts departments want to voice our unanimous
support for a motion that will come before the Faculty Senate from Professor Dan
Johnson to increase the Basic Studies Fine Arts requirement beyond the 3 credits
proposed by the Basic Studies Revision Task Force.
Under the current Basic Studies requirements, students may take between 3 and 9
credits in Fine Arts, and many students avail themselves of the opportunity to take those
additional credits in Fine Arts. Regrettably, the new proposal by the Basic Studies
Revision Task Force limits them to only 3 credits in Fine Arts.
We are concerned that students who take only 3 credits in Fine Arts will receive a
severely limited liberal arts education. Given the diversity of the arts—music, visual
arts, filmmaking, theater, dance, creative writing—students who take only one 3 credits
in the arts will gain only a partial perspective on the importance of the arts in our culture.
It would be unthinkable, for example, to require only 3 credits in “science,” given the
diversity of such disciplines as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc. It should
be equally unimaginable to require only 3 credits in “arts.”
Our support for Professor Johnson’s proposal is based upon the principled belief
that to quote from Arts in Higher Education, “The study of the arts involves a vast
complex of functions, purposes, and efforts. Each art form has its own history and body
of analytical techniques. Each has rich connections with general history and culture and
with the analytical technique of the sciences and the humanities.” Therefore we also
support Professor Johnson’s motion that credits in Fine Arts be taken in at least two
different arts disciplines.
Beyond that principled support, however, as department chairs, we are concerned
about the implications for accreditation, employment of graduate teaching assistants, and
other practical implications that will result from limiting UNCW students to only 3 credit
hours in Fine Arts as part of the Basic Studies requirements.
It is urgent that we support this motion at a time when the chancellor has declared
this year as the “Year of the Arts,” a year when arts programs at UNCW and arts in the
Wilmington community will be given special recognition and support. Moreover, the
completion of our 34 million-dollar Cultural Arts building signals that we should be
enhancing the place of the arts in our curriculum not diminishing them. The chancellor’s
vision is to make the arts a featured part of UNCW’s national and regional identity. For
the Basic Studies Revision Task Force to recommend that the requirement in Fine Arts be
limited to only 3 credits runs completely counter to these plans and our university’s
vision.
We would be happy, individually or collectively, to meet with any senators,
committees, or others to discuss our support of Professor Johnson’s recommendation.
We trust that you will share this letter with your colleagues.
Cordially,
Philip Furia
Professor and Chair
Department of Creative Writing
Donald Furst
Professor and Chair
Department of Art & Art History
Lou Buttino
Professor and Chair
Department of Film Studies
Frank Bongiorno
Professor and Chair
Department of Music
Paul Castagno
Professor and Director
Theatre Program
Cc: Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo
Provost Paul Hosier
Dean David Cordle