‘A crown jewel’: Questions, anger, and a lawsuit threat follow University of the Arts’ announcement of imminent closure

As University of the Arts trustees met Saturday to deal with the school’s shocking, imminent closure, the prevalent question among students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni was effectively summarized by Bradley Philbert, an adjunct professor.

“How,” Philbert asked, “did this happen?”

But the day after university president Kerry Walk said the school would close permanently on June 7 because of declining enrollment and significant cash-flow problems, there were few answers. University of the Arts’ board of trustees voted to approve the closure after meeting for hours Saturday, a spokesperson said.

The board indicated that it planned to issue a statement Sunday.

» READ MORE: The University of the Arts is closing June 7, its president says

Some faculty said they had already agreed to sign on to a lawsuit over the closure.

The university focused on the arts, and had programs ranging from dance and theater to fine arts and game art. Its campus is made up of several buildings on the stretch of South Broad Street known as the Avenue of the Arts; its main administrative building is at Broad and Pine Streets.

Multiple public officials said they learned of the closure Friday, after the decision to shut the school had already been made. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said in a statement that she was “saddened” by the news, and had spoken with Walk and board leadership.

“I will continue to convene conversations between university leaders and city, state, federal offices, and other stakeholders in the days ahead to determine what can be done to protect every student, faculty and staff member at University of the Arts, a crown jewel in our city’s academic and cultural communities,” Parker said in a statement. “Our city cares deeply about the future of every person who studies or works there.”

State Rep. Ben Waxman (D., Phila.) said he believes the circumstances regarding the sudden closure demand an independent investigation.

And State Sen. Nikil Saval (D., Phila.) said in a statement that “the university administration’s disregard is shocking and unacceptable; the students and workers deserve concrete plans and support as they prepare to navigate this difficult time.”

University of the Arts notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, its accrediting agency, on Wednesday, the first day of its summer term, that it planned to close on June 7. Middle States, in an unusually quick move, then said it would withdraw University of the Arts’ accreditation Saturday because it was out of compliance with all of the organization’s standards.

The school started the 2023-24 school year with 1,149 students, down from more than 2,000 in 2013.

Philbert, an adjunct professor of critical studies and vice president of the union that represents faculty and staff, on Saturday was reaching out to students enrolled in a summer-session class that had met Friday before the news of the closure came out, and to fellow faculty and staff, all of whom were reeling.

“University of the Arts is a pillar of both education and arts in a city where both are very, very important,” Philbert said. “This news is shocking and certainly anger-generating.”

As part of the committee that recently arrived at a contract with the university — the first such union pact in the school’s nearly 150-year history — Philbert said he was told that University of the Arts had suffered setbacks similar to those weathered by other arts institutions because of the pandemic, but was never given any indication that the situation was potentially critical. In fact, Philbert recently learned that the school had hit its enrollment targets for the fall.

“What seems to be a catastrophic and immediate collapse in the university’s finances was completely uncommunicated,” Philbert said.

Philbert told the students in his summer class that he’d be holding class Monday as scheduled, and would spend the week giving them as much practical information as possible. (Faculty and staff will also have access to workshops on filing for unemployment, Medicaid and SNAP benefits.)

But he couldn’t help but think of the longer term.

“What is South Broad Street going to look like, and how is it going to change? This is tremendously far-reaching,” said Philbert.

“People are devastated,” said another faculty member, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. Students are scrambling, and staff — often creatives who might stitch together teaching work and other jobs to earn a living — are, too.

“The timing of the closing means that 90 to 95% of any faculty positions have already been filled at this point,” the faculty member said. “People will try and find whatever they can — private teaching options, whatever. We may have to, in middle age, go and get a day job.”

The staffer said they had already agreed to participate in a lawsuit that could be filed against the university soon and would seek class-action status. Federal law requires workers to be given 60 days’ notice of a mass job loss; University of the Arts staff got seven.

A few days ago, Brynleigh Duffy, a senior at Upper Dublin High School, was feted by her friends for making her college choice: She had settled on University of the Arts from among 28 schools she applied to for musical theater.

When Duffy heard the news that the school wouldn’t exist in the fall — from a friend whose father read The Inquirer story about the closure — “I didn’t even think it could be real,” said the 17-year-old.

On Saturday, she had reached out to a number of schools she had rejected, and to the college coach who had helped her navigate her college audition process.

“The programs are so selective, most of them have a cap at 20, and if those spots are filled, there’s not a lot of wiggle room for me,” said Duffy. “At this point, I might end up at a school that I’ve never even been to.”

Naim Robinson Jr., a singer, pianist and drummer from West Oak Lane, had signed on to be a member of University of the Arts’ incoming freshman class, too. Robinson hadn’t even applied to any other schools — once he got his early acceptance in December, that was it for him.

“It was my dream,” said Robinson, 18, who attends Franklin Learning Center, a Philadelphia School District high school. “This is such a shock.”

Robinson isn’t sure what’s next; he liked University of the Arts in part because it was close to home, and will consider the other institutions offering students seamless transfers, he said.

University of the Arts has worked out partnerships with Drexel, Temple, and Moore College of Art and Design to smooth the transition for students.

Gregory N. Mandel, Temple’s provost, said by Saturday afternoon that more than 200 University of the Arts students had already filled out interest forms indicating they might want to enroll at Temple.

Mandel said Temple would work to make sure those students who do come to Temple “won’t be paying any more in net costs and out-of-pocket costs than they would had the University of the Arts continued.”

“We’re not,” Mandel said, “going to leave them behind.”

Although few answers were available about the school’s precipitous decline, according to the school’s most recent audited financial statement, it had $45 million in long-term debt at the end of last June. Those bondholders will have to be repaid.

The school valued its property, including Center City real estate, at $94.5 million on its balance sheet as of last June. Its balance sheet also listed $63 million in investments, the bulk of which is in a restricted endowment.

University of the Arts had an operating loss of $12 million on total revenue of $63 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to its audited financial statement. The Inquirer previously reported that the filing was not available.

The university has not said how it will wind down its business.

Beyond the numbers, Ellen Trainer, president of local 77 of the American Federation of Musicians, said the university “brought a safety and a vibrancy with its existence — almost 150 years of existence, six buildings.”

A number of Trainer’s members piece together a living between performing and teaching — many at University of the Arts. And it’s been a rough several years, she said.

“I’ll be honest with you, because of COVID and everything, it’s taken our industry a long time to claw our way back,” Trainer said. “This is a huge blow to the Center City area, not just in the arts community, but in the city of Philadelphia.”

Patricia Wilson Aden, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, said in a statement that she found it “very concerning to see the imminent closure of the University of the Arts, a pillar of our cultural community that has uplifted so many renowned artists and musicians since its founding in 1870. Unfortunately, UArts has not been immune to the changing dynamics of higher education that have jeopardized the financial sustainability of many institutions.”

Aden applauded those schools that have stepped up to take on University of the Arts students.

UArts’ closure comes less than a year after the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts announced that it was eliminating its bachelor’s and master’s of fine arts programs.

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, a Philly native musician and Academy Award-winning filmmaker who received an honorary doctorate from University of the Arts in 2022 and has endorsed the school’s doctoral in creativity program, mourned the imminent closure on his Instagram account, calling it a “tragedy.”

“Not sure what the solution is right now — not even sure what this means for the students entering the curriculum this summer only for their live plans to be thwarted like this,” Questlove wrote. “But we cannot let creative institutions go down in smoke people: you take art and creativity away then pretty much the only schools left will just teach you how to be workers. Not Creatives. Creatives implement solutions, workers follow orders for other people. This isn’t over [University of the Arts].”

Staff writers Harold Brubaker and Emily Bloch contributed to this article.