The University of Wisconsin-Madison Music Department will hold another vote to determine whether it will join a proposed College of the Arts.
The College of the Arts, currently in planning stages, would combine the arts departments currently located under three different colleges into one arts college. The drama, theater, dance and art departments have all voted to join the new college, University Committee Member Mark Cook said.
Cook said the move would “bring the arts together in some format … to figure out some way to build strength on this campus instead of being scattered.”
However, last year there was division among multiple units within the College of Letters and Science over whether to join the proposed college. Due to its failure to adhere to open meeting protocol, the Music Department will retake its vote April 25, presenting the possibility that the department will not join the new college.
If the Music Department votes against joining the new college, Cook said the department might stay in L&S and the College of Arts could still move forward.
However, Cook said the University Committee would consider it “unacceptable” to leave the arts system as it is.
“To just return to the way it was before is not going to grow and develop the arts on this campus,” Cook said.
While faculty involved in music performance generally support the proposed college, some involved in scholarly research hold reservations, said Faculty Senator James Doing, a music professor.
“There’s some kind of sense that the tie to L&S is like this academic strand,” Doing said. “If they go into a College of the Arts it’s … not as academic.”
Also at the meeting, Faculty Senator Noah Feinstein asked Chancellor David Ward about the university’s contract with Palermo’s Pizza and the recommendation from the Labor Licensing Policy Committee to cut ties due to alleged labor violations.
Ward said he recognized the LLPC’s recommendation, but did not feel there was “conclusive evidence” that would allow him to take action against the pizza company before hearing the National Labor Relations Board’s decision. He said premature action could leave the university vulnerable to a lawsuit.
