ArtCenter Students Protest “Racist” Campus Atmosphere

Just over a dozen ArtCenter College of Design students gathered in front of the school’s Arroyo Parkway campus Thursday to protest what they called  a “racist” school campus atmosphere, and one that tolerates sexual harassment.

Presenting a list of demands, the students said that they would implement a tuition strike should their demands not be met.

Organizer Caro Gonzales said at the demonstration Thursday, “For 10 years, students have been asking for racism to be removed from our curriculum,  to be removed from our classrooms, and to be removed from our administration.”

Gonzales claimed that some students have experienced sexual assaults, and that one faculty member propositioned a student in exchange for money.  She also named a faculty member who she claimed was removed from the school’s staff after an incident last year. ArtCenter officials would not comment directly on those claims.

Among the student demands  are that ArtCenter make a commitment to anti-racist practices, create an equitable environment, cancel and restructure the school’s master plan, implement affordable tuition, and dismiss the school’s president, Lorne Buchman.

In a statement,  ArtCenter Director of Media Relations Teri Bond said, “We are unequivocally committed to eliminate racism and sexism in our community. While the College has made significant progress in recent years, we know there’s a lot more work to be done.”

The statement continued, “We are dedicated to doing whatever it takes to ensure real and measurable progress…We are proactively reaching out to individuals to follow up on claims to the best of our abilities.”

Bond said ArtCenter will mandate that all employees undergo training as one measure among several to eliminate racism and sexism within the school community.

“It is our goal to address these critical issues and create the best possible environment for learning,” the statement concluded.

On Wednesday evening, ArtCenter Chief Diversity officer Aaron Bruce also sent a letter to students and the college community, which said, in part, “The College has developed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan to address systemic issues at ArtCenter that also exist across the landscape of higher education…The first iteration of what will clearly be an evolving plan will be made publicly available in the coming weeks.”

“We want to reaffirm our commitment to creating an anti-racist environment that is free from all forms of discrimination, harassment and micro-aggressions,” Bruce said. “We are deeply concerned by the serious issues being raised on social media and encourage individuals to discuss their experiences and concerns with people who are equipped to provide guidance, offer support and investigate reports.”

Gonzales dismissed the letter Thursday, saying, “We got a letter from the diversity officer, saying that they want to ‘move from words to action.’ But the problem is, that same letter was sent out almost exactly seven years ago to another student, saying that they’re going to do the same thing.”

“We’ve had shared governance,” Gonzales continued. “We’ve had committees, we’ve gone through the whole entire process, and we’ve still received nothing.”

Gonzales said students are also asking for a tuition “reset,” because  the school is “too expensive.”

 “And that is extremely exclusionary” she said,  “especially to the low income communities who are Black and Brown here in Los Angeles.

Along with their concerns and demands , students also criticized the college’s housing apparatus, which helps to provide student housing.

Following the demonstration, Bond issued a statement, saying, “In an effort to provide additional support to students during these difficult times, ArtCenter has established a need-based tuition reduction grant program for the fall 2020 term. The College has allocated $5 million to support students through this program”

Bond added that the college is  “very concerned about homelessness among our students.”

She said that the college has established an “economic response team to respond to students who have housing issues.”

Students are directed to the economic response team, said Bond, who described the team as being part of the school’s diversity equity and inclusion department “to find resources and relief for their situation.”

Bond said ArtCenter has “ongoing priority issues that we need to address, just like we know that students have food insecurity. There are many issues that students are facing, including the ones they’re talking about today that we are concerned about.”