JOIN the campus-wide protest this Thursday 3/28 on Sanford at Noon

 

 

This link is to an email script to send your professor and request attendance during class for Thursday's protest.

 

*As of March 21, 2024, Appalachian State University Art students have been ROBBED of a proper education. 

Students must now fight to be heard in the pursuit of a fair and ethical education.

DETAILS AS FOLLOWS:

From Spring 2023 to the present, during the reconstruction and relocation of the Arts through Wey and East Hall, there has yet to be financial or ethical compensation for the following injustices:

• Dean Shannon B. Campbell PUBLICALLY STATED this week ON MARCH 25 2024 That she was completely unaware of the unsafe and unethical conditions of the university.
• THE DEAN PUBLICALLY ADMITTED TO BEING UNAWARE OF STUDENT ENDANGERMENT. SO WHO IS KEEPING STUDENTS SAFE?
• publically reporting ignorance to over a YEAR of student safety reports and university misconduct calls into question her leadership and ability to oversee our department.

 

• The Dean has made multiple LIVE, PUBLIC CLAIMS and sent emails that attempt to cover for the university: fabricating lies, denying evidence, student and student/faculty reports, and DENYING live first-hand accounts of student endangerment through Wey.

 

• After student petition and protest, Dean Shannon B. Campbell sent an email March 21, 2024, stating, "No drilling will take place for the remainder of the semester", which was another lie, as students returned to class with drilling and active demolition/deconstruction STILL TAKING PLACE as of March 26, 2024.

 

• Construction of Wey Hall has included excessive drilling/noise during mandatory class instruction, debris falling from the ceiling/polluting air and walkways, and interruptions during class, resulting in students missing essential course material and facilities.
• There is limited access to safe drinking water [ students rely on plastic water jugs that go empty multiple times through the week ], limitations to ventilation [ which has been shut off before ], and a mountain of unethical learning conditions. These concerns have been continuously reported by students and faculty and minimized throughout Fall 23' and onward. 
• UNIVERSITY CONFIRMED and shifted blame unto demolition and construction crew, saying it was the crew who had not completed up to standard execution of demolition and condition, instead of the university itself who was endangering students 
• A professor and group of students dislodged CONCRETE in the ceiling titles directly above students working during class March 2024, which Dean Campbell publically denied live student witnesses on march 25, 2024
• Multiple accounts of the building shaking deeply during class, with one instance causing an entire room of students and work to be cleared off upon a blanket of dust and debris covering everything following the demolition shake, infractions occurring even back from October 2023, of which no reports were followed up on from the university and no professor or student has been updated regarding their submitted reports or plea for student safety.
   
• Students not in Wey have been relocated to East Hall, a formerly condemned dorm building from the 50s, set for demolition.
• Asbestos and lead paint throughout the building are still a potential severity present in East Hall.
• In East, students are denied access to an ADA-accessible workspace. There is no elevator, interior ramps, automatic door buttons, etc., as disability access continues to be absent from the core values of Appalachian State University.
• In East, students work with poor ventilation, damaged flooring/piping, sinks.
• Year-round at East, students work without air conditioning or proper lighting conditions. 

 

• Students in both East and Wey are consistently locked out of the building. Students have been left without swipe card access multiple times for weeks, forced to find faculty, police, or propped windows to access their own workspaces. 
• Students were denied building access for 6 days this past week, march 21st, due to construction
• Art students have been upturned, relocated, and shoved across campus to work in any crevice available; such as students working in East Hall laundry rooms, and attending class in a windowless basement room in Edwin Duncan.
   
• Over the year, minor bandaids have been applied to sweep students' vocalizations under the rug. Water jugs/fountains and performative meetings were used to quiet the ongoing injustice at Wey and East, and App State has done little to quell the fears that have consistently come true for the students in the Art Department. 

It is imperative to communicate that the art Students at Appalachian State University have been ROBBED.

THIS IS NOT THE EDUCATION WE PAID FOR. 

We believe students MUST be provided financial compensation.

We have obtained a reduced education -> so students' tuition and costs must also be reduced. Financial compensation should be given to all enrolled Art students who have endured the collapse of the art department from Spring 2023-Present.  

If our voices are not heard, if justice is not served, art students will walk away from this university empty-handed. We are watching an entire institution get away with intentionally slighting young people, leaving students lied to and silenced.

We MUST act now to rewrite this injustice; because as it stands,

Students of the arts attending Appalachian State University have been ROBBED of our money and a proper education.

 

Please sign this petition, speak to anyone who will listen, and help us save the arts at App.

THIS IS NOT THE EDUCATION WE PAID FOR. 

This link is to the NC Channel 9 news report on the collapse of the art department with students still working inside it.

This link is to The Appalachian News coverage of the demand for student safety and compensation for a reduced education.

This link is to Sandra Eaton's Student Report with Appalachian's Student Journalist, Siri Patterson, on the protests and injustices.

 

*This petition was created and understood to be wholeheartedly truthful and without malice. We understand the cumulative student experience is vast and nuanced, and we seek only to find a positive end to this strief.

 

JOIN the campus-wide protest this Thursday 3/28 on Sanford at Noon. bring your voice and an insatiable thirst for JUSTICE.

This link is to an email script to send your professor and request attendance during class for Thursday's protest.