They went on social media and asked me to cover what they were doing.
A group of college students walked out of their classes one day in an effort to draw attention to the problems they saw within their theater department.
Now, before you point out that walking out on classes you're paying for is pretty dumb, that was the only class they all made an effort to miss. Since then, they've taken a different approach to the strike--refusing to audition for or attend any shows at their school.
I hopped in my car and made the trip to see them, but for the sake of clarity, I asked if they could pick a representative I could do this interview with, and we spoke at length about their issues with the department, but in the interest of full disclosure, they did have notes from other students about their concerns and experiences.
Here's the interview:
ME: Did your professors know this was coming?
THEM: No. I don't think so. They seemed really surprised when we walked out.
ME: Because you went to class and then walked out, right?
THEM: Yes.
ME: How far into class did you walk out?
THEM: We decided to give it twenty minutes and then do it.
ME: Were the professors surprised?
THEM: Yes.
ME: Were any of them mad?
THEM: Some of them were mad.
ME: Did any join the walk-out?
THEM: No.
ME: So it really is a line down the middle between the students and the professors?
THEM: I think some of them support us but don't to lose their jobs at the school.
ME: What brought all this on?
THEM: The first thing was that--we have a professor at the school right now who is not qualified to be there.
ME: What do you mean by not qualified?
THEM: She's never been to college, and she's teaching Acting III.
ME: Is that the highest acting class you--
THEM: Yes.
ME: Okay.
THEM: She has no degree.
ME: Was she hired based on her experience in the field?
THEM: That's what we were told when we brought this up.
ME: Brought it up with who?
THEM: The Chair of the Department.
ME: Okay.
THEM: She's his girlfriend.
ME: Okay.
THEM: And she's twenty-five.
ME: She's twenty-five teaching college with no college degree.
THEM: Yes.
ME: What experience did your Chair say qualified her to teach college?
THEM: At first, he got angry and didn't want to answer us at all when we brought this up. He talked to us like we were children. One of the other students working with me told him that we are adults and a few of us are here paying for our own education and we have a right to ask what someone's credentials are, but that we could take this to the President of the college if he didn't want to talk to us, and then he got scared and said that she had a 'very impressive resume.'
ME: Did you get to see the resume?
THEM: We asked to see it. He said he would get it to us. We asked again. Then we asked her. She was very offended that we asked. We had already looked her up by then, so we knew that her resume was not that impressive.
ME: And a good or bad resume doesn't necessarily mean you will or won't be a good teacher.
THEM: But then what do you use to decide if somebody can teach or not?
ME: That's what I was going to ask--what do you think the criteria should be?
THEM: I think the criteria should be 'Go get a degree so you can teach.'
ME: But even--I'm just playing devil's advocate--
THEM: Okay.
ME: --Some people might say, 'Even people with college degrees aren't necessarily going to be good teachers.'
THEM: But then isn't it, like, allowing people to get away with hiring their girlfriends if you say 'Anybody can teach?'
ME: You put in your letter--you all wrote a letter with your demands--
THEM: Yes.
ME: You put that you want there to be criteria if someone is hired based on experience rather than educational background.
THEM: Yes.
ME: I thought that was really smart.
THEM: Thank you. We just want to know that there is something in place to stop somebody from just--doing what our Chair did.
ME: Which is what?
THEM: Hiring his girlfriend and his friends and people who run theaters that he wants to work at.
ME: All right, let's unpack that.
THEM: Okay.
ME: He hired his girlfriend and she's teaching Acting III.
THEM: Yes.
ME: What other friends has he hired?
THEM: Our entire adjunct faculty are his friends. He has a theater company called [Name of Theater Company], which, excuse me, but is not--It's not a company a lot of people want to work at. We are expected--if we want to bank professional hours--
ME: What does that mean?
THEM: So we have so many hours that we have to work on shows at school, and then we're expected to bank professional hours--which can be going to see shows or working on shows outside of school.
ME: See, that sounds pretty good.
THEM: Yeah, except--the only theaters on the list of acceptable theaters where we can bank those hours--
ME: So you can't bank them anywhere?
THEM: No, we have to bank them at theaters where he works or theaters he wants to get in with.
ME: Your Chair?
THEM: Yes.
ME: How many theaters is that?
THEM: It's like three theaters.
ME: What does he say when you ask to go bank those hours at another theater?
THEM: That those theaters aren't acceptable because the quality of their work isn't good.
ME: And he's the one who decides if the quality of the work is good.
THEM: Yes.
ME: What happens if all of you go see a show or work at one of the theaters that isn't on the list?
THEM: We really can't, because between the hours we have to bank working at school and then the ones we have to do with the theaters on the list, plus school and what else we have going on, we just can't make time for those other theaters and it's really a problem, because the theaters he has on the list don't really want to work with us or put us in shows. Like, we audition there and nothing happens.
ME: What about his theater?
THEM: He tries to cast us all the time, but none of us want to work there. A lot of people don't get along with him and a lot of people don't like the people who work there--like some of the people who teach here now.
ME: Are you pressured to work there?
THEM: Yes.
ME: What does that pressure look like?
THEM: I think it's just pressure anyway when your professor pulls you aside after class and says he really wants to put you in this show at his theater and he thinks it's this great thing for you because you're going to get paid and the theater is really big, but nobody wants to do it.
ME: What happens if you say 'No?'
THEM: One of the girls in my hall--
ME: In your dorm--
THEM: Yeah, one of the girls that I live across from, she said 'No' and then she didn't get a callback all through her junior and senior year, and she had been getting roles since she was a freshman. After he talked to her and she said she couldn't work with him outside of school, he wouldn't even let her take any of the workshops that you can sign up for if you want to do professional development or a master class or something like that.
ME: And you said he brings in people from theaters he wants to work at to teach?
THEM: We have this guy who acts at [Name of Theater] who taught lighting design. He never lighting designed anything. The people in the class were asking him questions and he couldn't answer them, and we're like--What is he doing here? After the semester was over, a few of us were out one night at [Name of Bar] and he was there, and he was drunk, and he told us that he told [The Chair] that he really needed the money and [The Chair] was so nice and got him the job because it was the only thing that was open at the college, and he put in a good word for [The Chair] with [Name of Artistic Director] and we were so mad.
ME: So it was a quid pro quo?
THEM: Yes.
ME: Was he embarrassed or afraid to tell you all this?
THEM: He was drunk but I think he thought that, like, that was okay for [The Chair] to do. To get jobs for people that he wants to get jobs for and that, like, anybody should be able to teach college. Or that anybody can. That's when we all got together and--First we tried talking to [The Chair]. We asked for a meeting before the Fall semester started, and he turned us down. Then we came back and asked again once the semester started and he sat down with us, and that's when we asked about his girlfriend, who had just started teaching there, and when we saw how he was handling everything, we decided to go to the President. The President didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to get involved.
ME: Why do you think that is?
THEM: Because I think she feels like everybody is entitled to run their department however they want.
ME: So there's no oversight?
THEM: There should be, but it doesn't seem like there is.
ME: And that's when you all planned to walk out and then stop working on school shows?
THEM: Stop working on them and stop seeing them. We also no longer bank hours at any of the theaters on the list we were given.
ME: What's the reaction been like from the department?
THEM: We had a department meeting where we thought our concerns would be addressed, but instead, we were yelled at again, like children, and threatened.
ME: Threatened with what?
THEM: Threatened that if we didn't bank the hours we were required to, we would not be able to graduate.
ME: Because it's a requirement of the program that you do these hours?
THEM: We are happy to do the hours, but we want the list to be expanded.
ME: Could the professor be arguing that the theaters on the list are equity theaters versus non-equity theaters and so it's a question of having you bank hours somewhere that's officially designated as being a professional theater?
THEM: No, because there is a theater in the area that isn't on the list that's an equity theater. We can't work there and bank hours.
ME: What was the reason for that?
THEM: We weren't given an official reason, but I know--a few people know--that [The Chair] used to work there and then got into a fight with the person who runs the theater, because that theater used to be on the list and was taken off the year before I started school here.
ME: So what has going to class been like with all this tension?
THEM: I'm in Acting III and the Professor--She talks about it all the time. We've told her that it's not appropriate to talk about it, and she was told by the President--Everyone on the faculty was told--That we can't talk about it in class. They're trying--Now they're trying, because we got some attention--to mediate with us and come up with a solution. But she keeps talking about it, and when we tell [The Chair], he says 'She's very upset that you all would do this to her and question her ability.' I never said she was a bad actor or a bad teacher, but I want to know why she's qualified to teach her. That's not a hard question.
ME: How long has the Chair been the Chair?
THEM: I think it's fourteen years.
ME: If mediation doesn't work, how far are you prepared to take this?
THEM: I don't know why mediation shouldn't work. We just want more theaters added to the list and we want there to be hiring guidelines for the department that we can see and have access to.
ME: I think the second one is probably where they're going to put up a fight.
THEM: That's the one even the college doesn't want.
ME: Why do you think that is?
THEM: I think people want to be allowed to hire their friends without anybody checking them on it and it's easy to do when you're talking about theater, because--it's hard to say what makes somebody qualified, you know? We get that, but you still have to try.
ME: Because so much of what we do is subjective, you think people could use that subjectivity to take advantage and game the system?
THEM: Yes.
ME: Are you worried this going to affect your grades? Like you said, everything we do in theater is subjective, so if you're in a scene study class, and the professor is mad at you, it wouldn't be that hard for them to give you a bad grade and claim that you deserve it.
THEM: Then we would fight it.
ME: I'm saying it might be a pretty expansive fight.
THEM: That's okay.
ME: But while all this is going on, your education is suffering, no?
THEM: This is us trying to get a better education for ourselves.
ME: Well, you've got actors teaching lighting design classes because they need the cash, so yeah, I'd say it's a fight that needed to be had.
THEM: Yes.
ME: Did you bring that specific example of hiring up to the President?
THEM: We did. We brought all the examples up to her and put it in a letter.
ME: And there was no response to that?
THEM: No.
ME: Did you bring it up to the Chair?
THEM: The letter or--
ME: Hiring that actor.
THEM: Yes.
ME: What did he say?
THEM: That he felt he had the experience to teach the class.
ME: I mean, actors can also know about lighting design, but you're saying he--
THEM: He didn't know. Our old professor who used to teach the class wrote a letter to the President that we included with ours saying that he knew this person from the community and that he has no lighting background.
ME: So you have some support from the community?
THEM: Yeah, a lot actually.
ME: Is the support from the community making an impact?
THEM: I don't know if it is. I hope it is.
ME: How do you think this is going to end?
THEM: I think if--I don't think they're going to stop everybody that's supposed to graduate from graduating, but I don't know if they're going to give us what we want either.
ME: Are any of the other students thinking about conceding?
THEM: Not yet but I know people are nervous.
ME: Have you thought about contacting a lawyer?
THEM: A few of our parents are lawyers.
ME: Oh, so you have no fear.
THEM: (Laughing.) I mean, we are nervous, but we're not afraid. This has to change. We're not, like, a tool you can use to get jobs for yourself or get jobs for your friends. This is our college. I know this happens at other places too, but that doesn't mean we should just take it and accept it. We know it's going on, so we should do something about it.
ME: Do you want [The Chair] fired?
THEM: Me personally? Yes. But we didn't ask for that. We just want there to be checks and balances.
ME: Is there a scenario where they graduate you all and maybe the class after you and don't force the issue on you banking hours at these theaters, and then once they have a new group of students in, they just pretend none of this ever happened?
THEM: That's why we're talking to younger students and making sure they understand what's happening and that's why we wanted to talk to you about it. We need to keep this going until there's a change for the students that come after us as well.
ME: Well, I wish you luck. I hope it works out.
THEM: Thank you.
Them is the representative for a group of students at a college.
A group of college students walked out of their classes one day in an effort to draw attention to the problems they saw within their theater department.
Now, before you point out that walking out on classes you're paying for is pretty dumb, that was the only class they all made an effort to miss. Since then, they've taken a different approach to the strike--refusing to audition for or attend any shows at their school.
I hopped in my car and made the trip to see them, but for the sake of clarity, I asked if they could pick a representative I could do this interview with, and we spoke at length about their issues with the department, but in the interest of full disclosure, they did have notes from other students about their concerns and experiences.
Here's the interview:
ME: Did your professors know this was coming?
THEM: No. I don't think so. They seemed really surprised when we walked out.
ME: Because you went to class and then walked out, right?
THEM: Yes.
ME: How far into class did you walk out?
THEM: We decided to give it twenty minutes and then do it.
ME: Were the professors surprised?
THEM: Yes.
ME: Were any of them mad?
THEM: Some of them were mad.
ME: Did any join the walk-out?
THEM: No.
ME: So it really is a line down the middle between the students and the professors?
THEM: I think some of them support us but don't to lose their jobs at the school.
ME: What brought all this on?
THEM: The first thing was that--we have a professor at the school right now who is not qualified to be there.
ME: What do you mean by not qualified?
THEM: She's never been to college, and she's teaching Acting III.
ME: Is that the highest acting class you--
THEM: Yes.
ME: Okay.
THEM: She has no degree.
ME: Was she hired based on her experience in the field?
THEM: That's what we were told when we brought this up.
ME: Brought it up with who?
THEM: The Chair of the Department.
ME: Okay.
THEM: She's his girlfriend.
ME: Okay.
THEM: And she's twenty-five.
ME: She's twenty-five teaching college with no college degree.
THEM: Yes.
ME: What experience did your Chair say qualified her to teach college?
THEM: At first, he got angry and didn't want to answer us at all when we brought this up. He talked to us like we were children. One of the other students working with me told him that we are adults and a few of us are here paying for our own education and we have a right to ask what someone's credentials are, but that we could take this to the President of the college if he didn't want to talk to us, and then he got scared and said that she had a 'very impressive resume.'
ME: Did you get to see the resume?
THEM: We asked to see it. He said he would get it to us. We asked again. Then we asked her. She was very offended that we asked. We had already looked her up by then, so we knew that her resume was not that impressive.
ME: And a good or bad resume doesn't necessarily mean you will or won't be a good teacher.
THEM: But then what do you use to decide if somebody can teach or not?
ME: That's what I was going to ask--what do you think the criteria should be?
THEM: I think the criteria should be 'Go get a degree so you can teach.'
ME: But even--I'm just playing devil's advocate--
THEM: Okay.
ME: --Some people might say, 'Even people with college degrees aren't necessarily going to be good teachers.'
THEM: But then isn't it, like, allowing people to get away with hiring their girlfriends if you say 'Anybody can teach?'
ME: You put in your letter--you all wrote a letter with your demands--
THEM: Yes.
ME: You put that you want there to be criteria if someone is hired based on experience rather than educational background.
THEM: Yes.
ME: I thought that was really smart.
THEM: Thank you. We just want to know that there is something in place to stop somebody from just--doing what our Chair did.
ME: Which is what?
THEM: Hiring his girlfriend and his friends and people who run theaters that he wants to work at.
ME: All right, let's unpack that.
THEM: Okay.
ME: He hired his girlfriend and she's teaching Acting III.
THEM: Yes.
ME: What other friends has he hired?
THEM: Our entire adjunct faculty are his friends. He has a theater company called [Name of Theater Company], which, excuse me, but is not--It's not a company a lot of people want to work at. We are expected--if we want to bank professional hours--
ME: What does that mean?
THEM: So we have so many hours that we have to work on shows at school, and then we're expected to bank professional hours--which can be going to see shows or working on shows outside of school.
ME: See, that sounds pretty good.
THEM: Yeah, except--the only theaters on the list of acceptable theaters where we can bank those hours--
ME: So you can't bank them anywhere?
THEM: No, we have to bank them at theaters where he works or theaters he wants to get in with.
ME: Your Chair?
THEM: Yes.
ME: How many theaters is that?
THEM: It's like three theaters.
ME: What does he say when you ask to go bank those hours at another theater?
THEM: That those theaters aren't acceptable because the quality of their work isn't good.
ME: And he's the one who decides if the quality of the work is good.
THEM: Yes.
ME: What happens if all of you go see a show or work at one of the theaters that isn't on the list?
THEM: We really can't, because between the hours we have to bank working at school and then the ones we have to do with the theaters on the list, plus school and what else we have going on, we just can't make time for those other theaters and it's really a problem, because the theaters he has on the list don't really want to work with us or put us in shows. Like, we audition there and nothing happens.
ME: What about his theater?
THEM: He tries to cast us all the time, but none of us want to work there. A lot of people don't get along with him and a lot of people don't like the people who work there--like some of the people who teach here now.
ME: Are you pressured to work there?
THEM: Yes.
ME: What does that pressure look like?
THEM: I think it's just pressure anyway when your professor pulls you aside after class and says he really wants to put you in this show at his theater and he thinks it's this great thing for you because you're going to get paid and the theater is really big, but nobody wants to do it.
ME: What happens if you say 'No?'
THEM: One of the girls in my hall--
ME: In your dorm--
THEM: Yeah, one of the girls that I live across from, she said 'No' and then she didn't get a callback all through her junior and senior year, and she had been getting roles since she was a freshman. After he talked to her and she said she couldn't work with him outside of school, he wouldn't even let her take any of the workshops that you can sign up for if you want to do professional development or a master class or something like that.
ME: And you said he brings in people from theaters he wants to work at to teach?
THEM: We have this guy who acts at [Name of Theater] who taught lighting design. He never lighting designed anything. The people in the class were asking him questions and he couldn't answer them, and we're like--What is he doing here? After the semester was over, a few of us were out one night at [Name of Bar] and he was there, and he was drunk, and he told us that he told [The Chair] that he really needed the money and [The Chair] was so nice and got him the job because it was the only thing that was open at the college, and he put in a good word for [The Chair] with [Name of Artistic Director] and we were so mad.
ME: So it was a quid pro quo?
THEM: Yes.
ME: Was he embarrassed or afraid to tell you all this?
THEM: He was drunk but I think he thought that, like, that was okay for [The Chair] to do. To get jobs for people that he wants to get jobs for and that, like, anybody should be able to teach college. Or that anybody can. That's when we all got together and--First we tried talking to [The Chair]. We asked for a meeting before the Fall semester started, and he turned us down. Then we came back and asked again once the semester started and he sat down with us, and that's when we asked about his girlfriend, who had just started teaching there, and when we saw how he was handling everything, we decided to go to the President. The President didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to get involved.
ME: Why do you think that is?
THEM: Because I think she feels like everybody is entitled to run their department however they want.
ME: So there's no oversight?
THEM: There should be, but it doesn't seem like there is.
ME: And that's when you all planned to walk out and then stop working on school shows?
THEM: Stop working on them and stop seeing them. We also no longer bank hours at any of the theaters on the list we were given.
ME: What's the reaction been like from the department?
THEM: We had a department meeting where we thought our concerns would be addressed, but instead, we were yelled at again, like children, and threatened.
ME: Threatened with what?
THEM: Threatened that if we didn't bank the hours we were required to, we would not be able to graduate.
ME: Because it's a requirement of the program that you do these hours?
THEM: We are happy to do the hours, but we want the list to be expanded.
ME: Could the professor be arguing that the theaters on the list are equity theaters versus non-equity theaters and so it's a question of having you bank hours somewhere that's officially designated as being a professional theater?
THEM: No, because there is a theater in the area that isn't on the list that's an equity theater. We can't work there and bank hours.
ME: What was the reason for that?
THEM: We weren't given an official reason, but I know--a few people know--that [The Chair] used to work there and then got into a fight with the person who runs the theater, because that theater used to be on the list and was taken off the year before I started school here.
ME: So what has going to class been like with all this tension?
THEM: I'm in Acting III and the Professor--She talks about it all the time. We've told her that it's not appropriate to talk about it, and she was told by the President--Everyone on the faculty was told--That we can't talk about it in class. They're trying--Now they're trying, because we got some attention--to mediate with us and come up with a solution. But she keeps talking about it, and when we tell [The Chair], he says 'She's very upset that you all would do this to her and question her ability.' I never said she was a bad actor or a bad teacher, but I want to know why she's qualified to teach her. That's not a hard question.
ME: How long has the Chair been the Chair?
THEM: I think it's fourteen years.
ME: If mediation doesn't work, how far are you prepared to take this?
THEM: I don't know why mediation shouldn't work. We just want more theaters added to the list and we want there to be hiring guidelines for the department that we can see and have access to.
ME: I think the second one is probably where they're going to put up a fight.
THEM: That's the one even the college doesn't want.
ME: Why do you think that is?
THEM: I think people want to be allowed to hire their friends without anybody checking them on it and it's easy to do when you're talking about theater, because--it's hard to say what makes somebody qualified, you know? We get that, but you still have to try.
ME: Because so much of what we do is subjective, you think people could use that subjectivity to take advantage and game the system?
THEM: Yes.
ME: Are you worried this going to affect your grades? Like you said, everything we do in theater is subjective, so if you're in a scene study class, and the professor is mad at you, it wouldn't be that hard for them to give you a bad grade and claim that you deserve it.
THEM: Then we would fight it.
ME: I'm saying it might be a pretty expansive fight.
THEM: That's okay.
ME: But while all this is going on, your education is suffering, no?
THEM: This is us trying to get a better education for ourselves.
ME: Well, you've got actors teaching lighting design classes because they need the cash, so yeah, I'd say it's a fight that needed to be had.
THEM: Yes.
ME: Did you bring that specific example of hiring up to the President?
THEM: We did. We brought all the examples up to her and put it in a letter.
ME: And there was no response to that?
THEM: No.
ME: Did you bring it up to the Chair?
THEM: The letter or--
ME: Hiring that actor.
THEM: Yes.
ME: What did he say?
THEM: That he felt he had the experience to teach the class.
ME: I mean, actors can also know about lighting design, but you're saying he--
THEM: He didn't know. Our old professor who used to teach the class wrote a letter to the President that we included with ours saying that he knew this person from the community and that he has no lighting background.
ME: So you have some support from the community?
THEM: Yeah, a lot actually.
ME: Is the support from the community making an impact?
THEM: I don't know if it is. I hope it is.
ME: How do you think this is going to end?
THEM: I think if--I don't think they're going to stop everybody that's supposed to graduate from graduating, but I don't know if they're going to give us what we want either.
ME: Are any of the other students thinking about conceding?
THEM: Not yet but I know people are nervous.
ME: Have you thought about contacting a lawyer?
THEM: A few of our parents are lawyers.
ME: Oh, so you have no fear.
THEM: (Laughing.) I mean, we are nervous, but we're not afraid. This has to change. We're not, like, a tool you can use to get jobs for yourself or get jobs for your friends. This is our college. I know this happens at other places too, but that doesn't mean we should just take it and accept it. We know it's going on, so we should do something about it.
ME: Do you want [The Chair] fired?
THEM: Me personally? Yes. But we didn't ask for that. We just want there to be checks and balances.
ME: Is there a scenario where they graduate you all and maybe the class after you and don't force the issue on you banking hours at these theaters, and then once they have a new group of students in, they just pretend none of this ever happened?
THEM: That's why we're talking to younger students and making sure they understand what's happening and that's why we wanted to talk to you about it. We need to keep this going until there's a change for the students that come after us as well.
ME: Well, I wish you luck. I hope it works out.
THEM: Thank you.
Them is the representative for a group of students at a college.
Wow! Tough situation. Seems like these students need more support to get someone to listen to them...perhaps other students at the school? The community? The arts community? Good luck and keep us posted.
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