Just some more thoughts on the closure of UArts, prompted by the LinkedIn feed showing me another institution’s marketing efforts to attract transfer students from the school:
It has been almost 48 hours since this story broke, and I find it quite fascinating that the mayor has yet to publicly comment on it, especially since she has been so wildly vocal in her efforts to bring people back to the Center City offices. (Of course, this is just another sign that Cherelle Parker doesn’t actually care about people or issues she can’t sweep under a rug or bust up with police.1)2
Student populations, especially those in the direct downtown area, transform the environment around them, whether that’s through going to classes, living in nearby residences, working in local businesses, and so on. Plenty of research and anecdotal evidence on the impact of higher ed institutions in the urban environment that I won’t bore you with, because if you’re reading this, you know it.
In my own college search, I could have easily gone to Rutgers/Mason Gross, but such a homogenous and large student body was so unappealing to me. While I wasn’t the best student during my UArts tenure, the experiences I had connecting with other young, likeminded people were deeply transformative. This on top of other unique aspects of the UArts experience such as no campus housing after the first year,3 etc. The people and how they made this city come alive for me is why I have stayed in Philly for almost 3 decades.4
With that said, I can only imagine this will be one of many factors in the decisionmaking process for students5. While it’s heartwarming that area schools are being so flexible and accommodating, there’s plenty of worthwhile reasons students didn’t chose them in the first place. Mid- and large-sized schools—particularly those in increasingly unaffordable cities like Philly—aren’t for everyone. Even the lone remaining art school, Moore, isn’t going to absorb all that talent.6
The students who will choose to flock to Philadelphia in the future won’t be artists per se. I think we will see an incredibly different—and less interesting—Philadelphia emerge over the next few year as students and organizations move away from Center City. Our loss is our loss.
It still doesn’t feel quite real that UArts is closing in a matter of days, and I want to believe that my disbelief is my Spidey-Sense telling me that maybe there’s more to come in this story. Philly has staked its reputation on being a cultural center for at least 30 years, I hope this is not the end of the line.
- This lack of everything is why I did not vote for her. ↩︎
- Update to note that the mayor did issue a statement, per the Inquirer (but it was pretty generic AF, if you ask me): https://www.inquirer.com/education/university-of-the-arts-closure-philadelphia-20240601.html ↩︎
- I strongly maintain that living alone—a thing you used to be able to afford here!—is one of the best things you can do. ↩︎
- Yes this is me being sentimental about this city, enjoy it while it lasts. ↩︎
- In addition to “will my school send in the cops if I choose to exercise my First Amendment right?” and other hits. Really curious to see how Penn fares after all of this. ↩︎
- Full disclosure: Moore is a client of mine at the company where I work. ↩︎