Performance Programs Getting Tuned Out

After much objection from those involved, administration has decided to take a new look at two classes that connect Lyndon State College to the surrounding community.

The community chorus and orchestra classes offered at LSC are not going away, but what is going to happen to them is still unclear. The options are to offer chorus and orchestra once a year, instead of once a semester, or to completely remove them as credit courses and pay the directors of the respective programs a stipend.

"Just because a program like chorus or orchestra is not available for credit in a given semester does not mean to me that it cannot be available," said LSC President Steve Gold in an e-mail. "In fact, I would support providing a stipend if necessary to the directors of both of these activities to support them being offered each semester."

Members of the programs see the changes differently after the recent discovery that the courses would not be offered next semester.

"I was going to take (chorus) next semester, but not getting credit for it and me being a senior trying to get all the credits that I can, it might be hard," said David Carmichael, a senior Television Studies major.

The orchestra's director, associate music and performing arts professor Elizabeth Norris, wants the courses to be taken more seriously.

"Our ensembles are not clubs and they are not extra-curricular activities," said Norris in an e-mail. "They are courses in which serious, college-level teaching and learning actually occur."

Chorus and orchestra are not required for a major, but that does not mean that they do not have a role within LSC and the surrounding community.

"I know it is a one credit class and some people might think of it as fluff, but it really does help us and help the community members make a base with Lyndon and it really is a way for students to take a break and sing and learn different pieces of music," said Jennifer Morin, a junior Electronic Journalism Arts major. "It really just helps us all."

The community, including LSC alumni, have heard about the issues surrounding these courses and have voiced their opinion on keeping them around.

"It's often the smallest things in life that make us the happiest," said LSC graduate and member of the chorus Timothy Ulrich, a full-time math teacher at Lyndon Institute and part-time faculty member at LSC. "And chorus is one of those things. Lyndon likes to pride itself on the fact that they are strong community members and the chorus and the orchestra are two integral parts where you make community connections."

The students enjoy the connections they make with members of the community in these courses.

"I've made friends who are much older than I am and I learned how to sing better working with them," said Carmichael. "It really gives (students) the opportunity to meet with community members and that is something that you can't really do in a lot of classes here."

The chorus has been around for 21 years and currently has 18 students enrolled this semester while the orchestra has eight students and has been around for over five years.

Though the news may have come as a shock to the members of the courses; this change had been a year in the making.

"Within the department of music and performing arts they had come to the conclusion that those two things, chorus and orchestra, were only going to be offered once per year," said Dean of Academic and Student Affairs Donna Dalton. "One of them would be in the fall and one of them would be in the spring for credit."

However, the impact on the community was not taken into consideration.

"Clearly there ought to have been given some alternative thought to if there is a way of sustaining this," she said. "Is there a way of maintaining this in those semesters when it's not being offered specifically as a credit bearing experience?"

The college's recent financial difficulties are the reason for the changes.

"We've had to make some very difficult decisions over the past couple of years because of the decreased funding that is available for our academic programs and for the college overall," said Dean of Institutional Advancement Bob Whittaker. "Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury any longer to offer as many of the courses as we would like to offer. At the same time, we are going to continue to find creative ways to be able to continue to keep this type of programming in place, if that is possible."

Cutting back on the arts is something that many at LSC would hope to avoid.

"I think the arts in all their forms are an extremely important part of liberal arts education environment and Lyndon is very much a liberal arts AND a professional studies college," said Gold.

Nothing is final regarding the future of these courses.

"I think they can plan on it for next fall unless something changes," said Dalton. "And stay tuned for the spring."