The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) was founded in 1826 and is one of America’s oldest and most prestigious art colleges. MICA is known for its diverse academia and vibrant student body, and the school is home to many prominent alumni, including Yumi Hogan (wife of former Maryland governor Larry Hogan) and ND Stevenson (author of Nimona).

The tuition for a full-time student in 2022-23, excluding meals and room and board, is $51,870, and this number is expected to increase in the 2023-24 academic year. Therefore, it is astonishing that while our school’s president, Samuel “Sammy” Hoi, is making half a million dollars per year (according to MICA’s tax filings on ProPublica), there are currently budget cuts being put into place that puts MICA students and their education at risk.

The MICA administration is planning on making multiple changes to the school. For example, they intend to merge majors into larger departments and lay off most of their faculty, therefore hindering the progress in their students’ arts education. What’s even more disturbing is that the school is planning on cutting ties with their current healthcare provider and removing access to gender-affirming care, which is a discriminatory act against transgender students who now have to drive outside of campus to get the care they need.

Despite these unnecessary and harmful changes to our college, the MICA admin is trying to back up their decisions by referring to their decreased enrollment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. While it’s true that there aren’t as many students going to college in this pandemic era, this still doesn’t excuse making your students put more money into your ever-growing pockets as you’re cutting back on so many essentials. And considering that we don’t even know where our tuition dollars are going, this is evidence that our own admin would rather protect their wallets than the students which they serve.

Therefore, we at MICA are urging our administration to make their annual revenue and budget easily accessible so that we know that the money we pay each year is going towards what is really important. We also urge the admin to reconsider changes made to academics and trans healthcare, as it is these aspects and more that are integral for a safe, functional learning environment.

MICA has created so many opportunities for people such as myself for unleash their potential as they work towards jobs in the creative workforce, and it would be a shame for this school to fall apart because of the irresponsible decisions of a small group of people. So I ask you to sign this petition so that our admin understands that we’re not taking this lying down and that our needs and wants matter.