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ecently faculty decisions have motivated a desire amongst students to become more involved in Whitman’s hiring process. The dance department is no exception. The decision not to renew Instructor of Modern Dance Vicki Lloid’s contract has provoked surprise and concern from Whitman students involved in the dance department. The department is currently entering a transition period; current Ballet Instructor Idalee Hutson-Fish will be retiring after this school year, and the administration has hired Peter De Grasse to take her place. The search for a tenure-track position in dance will soon begin, as part of the plan to create a dance major and minor at Whitman. In light of depar t ment changes, Provost and Dean of Faculty Timothy Kaufman-Osborn will be sending a letter out to students enrolled in dance classes to detail the courses being offered next year. Beginning and intermediate courses will continue as before, but advanced ballet and advance modern will be combined into one advanced course. Each of these courses will remain a one-credit activity course. The department will also offer a four-credit course with a more academic focus called “Dance Performance and Composition”. “This is a time of change in the college’s program in Dance. We are grateful for the long service of Vicki Lloid and Idalee Hutson-Fish, and we are excited to have Peter de Grasse come to Whitman next year and to be able to offer academic credit in Dance for 2012-13. The following academic year, 2013-14, promises even more growth for the program,” KaufmanOsborn said in an email. Lloid heard of the decision not to rehire her on Wednesday, Feb. 15 when she had gone to a meeting with Provost and Dean of Faculty Timothy Kaufman-Osborn about an entirely different subject. She was not expecting the news. The administration declined to comment on the reason she wasn’t hired back. When Lloid told students in her modern dance classes about the hiring decision, many were surprised. Junior Hensley Fradkin was especially taken aback. “Vicki and I have developed a friendship. When she told us she was fired, I was devastated. I couldn’t believe it,” she said. First-year Mcebo Maziya was especially surprised that Lloid’s dismissal occurred after so many years of service to the school. “Everyone was in shock. She’s an asset to the college and a skilled choreographer. She has single-handedly created the modern dance program at Whitman,” he said. Fradkin and several other students have written a letter addressed to Kaufman-Osborn, President George Bridges and Division Two Chair Rebecca Hanrahan. They have also set up a meeting with Kaufman-Osborn for this Friday, March 9 to express their concerns. “I want to be careful about what we’ve said because we’re not attacking the administration. We just want to understand [their decision] better,” Fradkin said. Students are particularly concerned with the manner in which this decision was made.
Sophomore Geneva Bahrke wished that students were more involved. “I feel that the lack of involving students and [current] faculty in the creation of a dance major is disrespectful and it hurts the development of the department,” said Bahrke. Senior Emily Hanscam compared hearing about Lloid’s dismissal to finding out the Varsity Ski team was going be cut her during her first year. “The department is undergoing a transformation without student input, and the process is done i n a sudden and quiet way,” she said. Kaufman-Osborn emphasized that the department’s changes will lead to more academic course offerings in dance. “As we build on this first step in future years, the Dance program will attract not only students who wish to perform, but also students who are interested in dance as a subject of academic inquiry,” he said. Though they feel that adding a more academic focus could strengthen the department, both Lloid and her students are skeptical of the possibility of creating a dance department with only one instructor. “[It] means that there is more specialization and less opportunity for students to experiment in areas they haven’t had a chance to look into,” Lloid said. “For instance, students at Whitman have the opportunity to perform in a dance show, which can teach them a lot about themselves. I don’t know if where they’re headed is going to make the arts less accessible to students. It seems like that’s what they’re doing, that they want to make the arts more an academic pursuit and less a living art pursuit.” Fradkin feels that dancers could have difficulty expanding their dance vocabulary. “It would be great to draw a different group of people to Whitman, but my question is: How do we have a diversity of classes with just one style?” Ultimately, Fradkin and several other students hope the administration consider give Lloid the opportunity to work with De Grasse during this transitional period for the program. “I’m excited for the new program, but concerned that the sudden firing of Vicki shows a break from what’s currently happening, which is a good program,” said sophomore Kari Paustian. Senior Chapman Strong also feels that the new program should incorporate elements of the old program. “I think establishing a dance major is a great thing and it could bring diversity with new people, but that doesn’t mean we should eliminate the program we have already. They should build off of each other,” he said. Patrick Henry, a retired faculty member, said that keeping Lloid on staff during the transitional phase would benefit the program’s future growth. “Peter De Grasse will be an excellent addition to our dance program, but Vicki should be retained at her halftime level to work with Peter, show him the ropes and take the program to the next level,” he said in an email. In their letter they wrote to the administration, students
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ISSUE 7 | March 8, 2012 | Whitman news since 1896
Adjunct music instructors work long hours for low pay, uncertain benefits by RACHEL ALEXANDER Senior Reporter
L
aura Curtis has been teaching piano at Whitman since 1997. She holds a master’s degree in music, instructs around 35 students per semester and is often
also e m phasize L l o i d ’s cross-disciplinary style as an example of the liberal arts values Whitman strives to have. They feel that these values are an important contribution to the department. It reads: “Rather than direct her classes towards the most experienced students, Vicki creates classes that bring together students of various dance backgrounds and levels of technical skill, while still challenging both types of students effectively, a perfect application of the principles of a liberal arts college which aims to foster a wide range of personal growth.” Tess Gallagher, a poet who has worked with Lloid in many different performances, also cites Lloid’s approach to dance as truly collaborative. “The students got to meet poets, musicians and artists in Vicki’s sweeping control of multiple mediums. They learned how these various elements could be BERFIELD
News Editor
EX AMICITIA VERITAS
INSTRUCTORS WITH NON TENURE-TRACK POSITIONS WORK AT WHITMAN WITH NO JOB SECURITY; DANCE, MUSIC DEPARTMENTS FACE REPERCUSSIONS
Sudden dismissal of dance instructor causes concern by KARAH KEMMERLY
AN ONEER PI
PIONEER
M IT
woven into movement and overlapping voices and appearances. Their enthusiasm was so refreshing. Everyone seemed caught up in the dream of what was being given,” she said in an email. Maziya and many other dance students hope that their voices will be heard. “It’s concerning that we’re the last to know while it affects us students most.”
busy from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with lessons, rehearsals, practicing and accompanying. For this, Curtis can expect to earn a little more than $20,000 per year from Whitman. Curtis is one of Whitman’s music teaching assistants: instructors who are hired on a per-semester or per-year contract basis to teach private lessons. Currently, students pay $300 per semester per credit of instruction, with one credit equal to a half-hour private lesson per week over the course of the semester. Music assistants receive $264 per credit they teach. The remainder of the fee covers employer related payroll costs such as social security, Medicare and worker’s compensation. An instructor with teaching 40 half-hour lessons is considered to be employed full-time by the college, and would earn a salary of $21,120 before taxes. Susan Pickett, chair of the music department, explained that although an instructor working full time would only have students 20 hours a week, many instructors have other time commitments as part of their job. Group lessons, unpaid accompanying and preparation for recitals all take up substantial portions of time for many faculty members. “That is, by custom, part of the job of teaching music,” she said. “These group recitals and classes are an extra part of the work.” These extra pieces of work can add up. Music assistant Robyn Newton said that during the first two weeks of the semester, she often works from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. because she has to find music and recordings for all of her students. On top of these hours, Newton has worked other jobs during the 13 years she’s taught at Whitman. She used to work from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. as an optician, then come to Whitman and teach voice from noon until 6 p.m. “Most adjuncts have two jobs,” she said. “It’s not something that you can really make a living doing. The only reason you would do it is because you love it so much.” Provost and Dean of Faculty Tim Kaufman-Osborn explained that Whitman’s fee rates are designed to be competitive with similar colleges. “We really try to rely on what similar institutions are offering,” he said.
Walla Walla University currently offers music instructors $350 per semester, and all but one other Panel of 14 school currently offers more than Whitman’s $300. Pickett said that largely because of this, Whitman is planning to ra ise music fees to $350 starting in the fall 2012 semester. Of this, instructors will receive $310 per credit taught. Kaufman-Osborn said that setting music fees is complicated, because charging too much might keep students from being able to take lessons. However, he acknowledged that paying faculty and staff a fair wage is important to the college. “Leaving aside all of the complications of teachers of musical instruments . . . if Whitman is not paying a living wage to someone, then I think in principle that’s a problem,” he said. Not all music assistants work full time for Whitman. Many instructors teach less common instruments, such as oboe and French horn, and have only a handful of students. Some only work for Whitman for a few semesters. But regardless of how
less the same contract. “The exact same policy applies to someone who’s worked [at W h i t m a n] for 12 y e a r s , ” said Curtis. Kaufman-Osborne said that paying instructors more based on their experience would further complicate the fee system. He acknowledged that the current flat fee system could be seen as unfair to some instructors who have been at the college for years. “It’s a legitimate question,” he said. As part of their agreement, music assistants teaching at least 30 credits are eligible for benefits on a prorated basis with 40 lessons being 100 percent full-time. At 40 lessons, Whitman would pay 100 percent of the employee’s health insurance premium. The number of credits an instructor is teaching is calculated based on enrollment on the tenth day of the semester. Any instructor who is below the 30-credit minimum on this day would lose health insurance coverage for the semester. Curtis lost her insurance coverage once,
NOTABLE
NUMBERS
$300 $264 $21,120 30 75 44
Current student music fee per credit (one half-hour lesson).
Amount of this fee an instructor receives.
Amount that an assistant music instructor working full time (40 credits per semester) currently earns in a year, before taxes.
Number of credits an assistant instructor must teach to be eligible for health insurance.
Percentage of full-time hours an assistant music instructor must teach to be eligible for health insurance.
Percentage of full-time hours an adjunct professor in a different department must teach to be eligible for health insurance.
$350
Music fee starting fall 2012. many students they have, their level of education or the number of years they’ve worked for Whitman, all assistants sign more or
a few years into her career at Whitman when she dipped below 30 credits for one semester.
see MUSIC, page 2