Non-Christian Art Professors Will Be Let Go After the Watkins College of Art Was Taken Over by a Religious University

Earlier this week, students, and faculty at the Watkins College
of Art in Nashville, Tennessee were shocked to learn that their
school would be absorbed by Belmont University, a local Christian
institution that has made national headlines over the last decade
for allegedly retaliating against faculty who went against its
strict code of faith.

“There is rage and there is fear,” Quinn Dukes, an alumna of
Watkins College who organized an online petition
against the merger, tells Artnet News. “Students and faculty are
losing both a history and a school.”

The open letter, which currently has more than 1,600 signatures,
calls for academic and financial transparency from university
leadership, as well as assurances that students will not experience
censorship. Additionally, critics of the merger want to ensure that
Watkins staff are provided severance if they are prevented from
joining Belmont University, which requires that its faculty adhere
to Christianity and does not hire teachers outside the
religion.

“We do not hire people who are not Christian,” Thomas
Burns, Belmont’s provost, clarified in a response to questions at
a townhall on
Wednesday. “So the ones who are not Christian will not be
eligible to work at Belmont. That’s just part of who we are.”

The letter follows a previous note circulated on Monday among
students and faculty demanding a vote of no confidence for Watkins
College president J. Kline, who has been accused of withholding
information about the Belmont deal from the school body. In a
statement, Kline defended the merger by saying it “secures the
legacy and mission of Watkins for generations to come.”

That sentiment was not shared by the majority of the student
body. During a meeting on Tuesday morning with Kline, some students
were openly crying at the loss of their school. One woman fainted.
Another was so upset that she had to be helped out of the room.

“It broke my heart,” Sasha Campbell, a junior, told Artnet News.
“Watkins was my first choice.”

LGBTQ students like Campbell, who identifies as bisexual and
trans, are also worried about how welcoming a campus like Belmont
will be for students like them, although the university does have a
club for queer students.

“The problem with the merger is that we have two different
cultures,” a faculty member told Artnet News on the condition of
anonymity, for fear of retaliation. “The reality is that there will
be restrictions. Our students are taught to be uninhibited and
explore subjects and issues that may clash against Belmont’s
Christian culture.”

Students have been told by Watkins faculty and Belmont officials
that their freedom of expression would be somewhat restricted at
the Christian school where filmmakers must make PG movies and
artists not permitted to draw from nude figures to study the human
form. Concerns over potential censorship are compounded by recent
Belmont controversies that have made national headlines.

In 2010, Belmont reportedly forced its
soccer coach, Lisa Howe, to resign from her position after she
announced to her team that she was lesbian and would be having a
child with her partner, a former assistant coach. According to the
team captain, the university’s athletic director Mike Strickland
said that “the baby ‘was going to be a problem’ and would conflict
with the university’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach.”

Just two years ago, in 2018, Belmont officials requested that a
university production of a play called The Wolves omit the
words “goddamn” and “fuck.” (Most theatrical productions are
forbidden from making alterations to the text without the express
written permission of the playwright.) Instead of cancelling the
play, faculty member and director Jacqueline Jutting took the
production off campus with the Actors Bridge Studio. The university
later ended its employment of Jutting and severed its 23-year
relationship with the studio.

Belmont’s acquisition of Watkins College comes almost two years
after the Christian university absorbed O’More College of Design,
which contributed new programs in fashion and interior design.
Belmont believes the addition of Watkins “further fortifies Belmont
as the center for art and design in the region,” according to the
press release announcing the move. (Belmont officials did not
provide further comment to Artnet News.)

Belmont has an undergraduate
population of about 6,600. Watkins, a small art college,
has about 180
undergraduates.

Watkins faculty say that they have known for some time that the
art school was in financial trouble, but their efforts to help or
meet with board members to discuss an action plan were rebuffed.
“We are running out of money and the wolf is at the door,” one
instructor said, calling the merger’s timing “cruel” because it
comes after the academic hiring season. (Watkins officials did not
respond to Artnet News’ requests for comment.)

Earlier today, Watkins chairman Steve Sirls, emailed alumni of
the college to defend the board’s decision to pursue a merger with
Belmont. “We fully recognize that this news has been hard for some
of our students and alumni to absorb,” he wrote. “Change can be
difficult, and we are working to help all those who love
Watkins.”

“The reality is that very few faculty will end up at Belmont,”
they continued, pointing out that some members are not Christians
and would therefore be automatically denied at the university.
“Some people have been at Watkins for over 25 years, but there
would be redundancies staffing-wise. Belmont doesn’t need our
admissions and financial aid personnel, and there aren’t many
teaching positions open in their art departments.”

Watkins is the fourth Tennessee art school to close in the last three years.
Others include the Memphis College of Art and the Art Institute of
Tennessee, Nashville.

The post Non-Christian Art Professors Will Be Let Go After
the Watkins College of Art Was Taken Over by a Religious
University appeared first on artnet News.