On January 10th 2024, PAFA Faculty, Staff, and Students were blindsided by an email from administration, one day prior to spring classes beginning, stating that "despite their best efforts" the school board reached a "unanimous decision" to effectively "wind down" degree granting programs at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts after the 2024-2025 academic year. This decision is not only unconsionable, it is highly unethical. The entire student body and many faculty and staff are being completely displaced without even so much as adequate advanced notice by an uncaring and callous administration.

Current sophomores and freshmen, including ones who were promised full rides to PAFA, are told to find a new institution with no promise of tuition matching, and only successful credit transfers at a few named institutions. Our dedicated faculty and staff informed about layoffs and potential position termination a day before facing students for the spring semester. The ethics at this institution are disgusting and appalling. There has been no transparency with the students or staff and no real attempts to fight for our programs or our professors.

PAFA is a cultural institution with hundreds of years of impact on the Philadelphia community, and what is happening to our student body is unjust. The president of the college has gone on record stating that there have been offers for generous funding to save the degree granting programs and that they would not be accepting them. Students and staff are currently being given the corporate run-around on pafaforward.org where there have been feeble attempts to dodge and duck every legitmate question and concern about how we might move forward that really leave us with more questions than answers.

While the school may be reverting back to the original certificate program model, it is worth mentioning that this impacts the accesibility to the institution for future students. The cert program, as a non-degree granting program, will pose difficulties in terms of qualification for federal loans, once again making the arts inaccesible for those who cannot afford it.

Problems like this don't crop up overnight, or over the span of a three week winter break. We want administration and the board held accountable for the unethical admission of students this past fall and the lack of transparency and assistance given to students, faculty, and staff. An audit is absolutely due. The bar has been set low for too long.