FRIDAY, DEC. 8, 2023
VOLUME 109 | ISSUE 11
HAYDEN SADLER/Cardinal Points
The lobby of the John Myers Fine Arts Building displays student artwork.
Bachelor of fine arts program on pause BY ALEKSANDRA SIDOROVA Editor in Chief
SUNY Plattsburgh’s art department made the decision to pause its bachelor of fine arts program due to being understaffed, no longer accepting new students. “In the situation right now, I think everybody’s really upset,” said Student Association Coordinator for Arts Alexander Finkey, who is also a senior in the BFA’s last batch of students. “Watching the art department fall apart is not what I wanted to see before I left.” When aspiring artists pursue a college education, they usually choose between a bachelor of arts and a BFA. A BA is broader than a BFA, while a BFA has a deeper focus into a concentration. At SUNY Plattsburgh, BA concentrations require four classes in a particular artistic discipline, and a BFA requires seven. Neither degree is “better” than the other, but the BFA attracts students because it is rigorous, demands hard work of its
students and culminates in a senior art show. Students not only become experts in their concentration, but learn to present and market themselves and their work. An intense focus in one or two concentrations combined with skills learned from breadth courses create experts who are artistically wellrounded. Those additional skills help Erin Doescher, a ‘20 alumna who teaches both high school and adult students in Massachusetts, introduce her students to different kinds of art. She also runs her own business selling ceramics, applying photography and graphic design skills to create her website and present her work. “Taking all those breadth courses, it makes you more knowledgeable and able to adapt and problemsolve,” Doescher said. “I credit a lot of my work ethic and drive to Plattsburgh and I’m proud of it.” A BFA also comes in handy for graduate school, not just a portfolio to show, but the skills to conceptually and academically think about art.
Hannah McCasland, a ‘20 alumna pursuing a master’s in fine arts at The Ohio State University, said her MFA program feels almost easier than the BFA was thanks to the backing she received “to be a better artist.” McKenna Brazie, a senior in the BFA’s last batch of students, is currently applying to grad schools, and said she worries about her chances of getting in with the program going on pause. “The school I’m applying to looks back and wants to see what my program looks like, and they see my program is not there,” Brazie said. “That doesn’t look good for the school. That doesn’t look good for me.” Alumni also fondly look back on the community the BFA program created. They recall gathering at the studios at night to work on their projects and critique each other’s work. “You got really close with your class. Everyone always helping each other, both professors and students of all years, especially older students helping younger students, was a really beautiful thing in our program,”
Doescher said. “There’s always someone there to help, to answer questions, to bounce ideas off of. It used to be that the art building was the only building where the lights would stay on all the time. We would work through the night.” However, that dynamic has changed. Students sometimes approach Brazie, who is the president of the Plattsburgh Association for Visual Arts and a teaching assistant in an introductory painting class, asking her how to join the BFA program. She has to tell them that they can’t. “They had no idea that the BFA was gone. No one had told them that, not even their adviser,” Brazie said. “I think a lot of people would have transferred over the summer had they known that was the case. It is sad because I see all the potential in their work and I know that they could get to that level if they only had the classes and the opportunity with the BFA to do so.” BFA > 3
360 sign petition for Menstrual Wellness Center BY ALEKSANDRA SIDOROVA Editor in Chief
A spring study by a student-faculty duo revealed a greater need for resources for menstruating students on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus. Their petition for a Menstrual Wellness Center gathered more than 360 signatures. Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies Akanksha Misra and student Olivia Wolfe first shared the results of their study of polycystic ovary syndrome, which included almost 600 responses, on the Black Solidarity Day social justice teach-in Nov. 6. That’s also when they first shared their petition that measured the campus community’s interest in a Menstrual Wellness Center. “Olivia was in my Feminist Theory class, and we were talking very intensely about medicalization of women’s bodies,” Misra said. “Menstruation was everywhere, but nobody was talking about it. I knew that if there was one student who could do this, it was Olivia.” The study itself looked for connections between PCOS
CAMERON GREAVES/Cardinal Points
and childhood experiences. Still, the data revealed that not only do many participants — in part, SUNY Plattsburgh students — have irregular periods, but in gen-
ARTS & CULTURE ‘Stress Busters’ destresses students page 4
eral have little understanding of the menstrual cycle and menstrual disorders such as PCOS, endometriosis, and related conditions. A person’s menstrual cycle
THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS
impacts many areas of their struation, for many, is aclife, Misra and Wolfe said. companied by pain or other Throughout the monthly physical discomfort. cycle, hormonal changes impact a person’s mood and SIGN > 3 mental health, and men-
SPORTS
OPINION
Iconic Murphy
Men’s hockey loses to Oswego
Farewell to Shawn Murphy
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