Black Hawk College has made a round of budget cuts that are detrimental to the art department. Unfortunately, the art department has been hit hard by these budget cuts; They have cut two of the FOUR teachers we have.

**Mr. Murray will be keeping his job**  Mr. David Murray has been with the art department since 2000, and has instilled in us the most basic of art rules. Without the basics, we can never move past mediocre. He has pushed and inspired many of us to move beyond our comfort zones. 

Mr. Kyle Petersen has been with us for 3 years, but he is the future of the art department. Mr. Petersen is no stranger to writing grants and coming up with ways to strengthen the art department. 

Black Hawk College has one of the strongest art programs in the area, even compared to the surrounding universities. With these layoffs, the program is going to be hit hard. Many students will not be able to finish their degrees (surrounding schools do not offer the same things, and some will not accept our credits if our degrees are not finished). These students have spent their time and money at Black Hawk in order to complete the degree they have been promised, and now all of their time and money will have been wasted. 

The board stated that we are being cut because enrollment has dropped (school wide), well, cutting the art programs will drop enrollment even more. 

 Update: Mr. Murray is now keeping his job, and Melissa Hebert-Johnson will be let go of. Melissa teaches all of the art history courses at Black Hawk. Mr. Murray will be taking over the art history courses.