Paier College of Art Salutatory 2024

From the fear of the prevention of me graduating I have not spoken publicly of my experience at Paier College yet. I graduated Friday May the 3rd and so now here is my story.

I discovered I was Salutatorian as I was marching into the auditorium where I was graduating. This means I am to give the salutatory which had a twenty minute slot of time on the program for the graduation. I was never informed of this honor until the day of and as a result myself and the Valedictorian were unable to give our speeches. In light of the missed opportunity, here is what I would like to say instead.

For starters I enrolled in the Spring of 2022 to finish my four-year degree in Fine Arts. Before this I had studied at The School of Visual Arts and this became a great backdrop for how poorly students at Paier were treated in comparison.

I want to start this recounting with the emphasis that this criticism is solely on administrators and leaders of Paier and not at all correlated to the dedicated and compassionate professors who always advocated for students.

The students were informed Jan 5, 2024 (three days before the spring semester) that the school had "discontinued our participation in the US Department of Education's Title IV program." Which students quickly figured out that to stay enrolled we would have to pay tuition out of pocket on payment plans. For many students this meant they could no longer afford to go to school and had to wait until the next fall semester to start any other schools programs if their application deadlines had not already passed. This cost many students time and money, as transfer schools can only accept a maximum of 75% of your transfer credits. I was one of the lucky ones, I only had one semester left. This meant putting one semester on a payment plan was painful but my best option as I was so close to graduation.

This situation was not the only concerning issue with the students at this school. We went without heat the entire winter. Students asked for heat countless times. I was told they 'spent a fortune already'. Model drawing classes left early because it was too cold to participate. Many times we thought, "Where is the money going? What are we paying for? How is this allowed?" Located in Bridgeport, CT, winters are cold. I have documentation of the classrooms reading at temperatures as low as 49-55 degrees Fahrenheit. These are unacceptable conditions for learning and not the only factors to an unsafe learning environment. Multiple rooms in the school are infected with black mold. When I brought this up with leadership I was told they were unaware and would treat it right away. The fact is, they were aware. Before I wrote a dissatisfaction letter the teachers did, advocating for the students. In the professor's letter, they mentioned the mold infestation. Months later and still nothing has been done. When I spoke with administrators about these ongoing issues I was told 'every institution goes through hardships'. I wrote heartfelt letters explaining my dissatisfaction and was often ignored or just given apologies. I made it clear that apologies are not enough and I want my financial documents to reflect that I am not receiving a safe and comfortable learning environment.

Another factor of unsafety is a lack of security and a nurse on school grounds. There are no security officers for the building and I have only seen one patrolling around the building once a day on rare occasions. Paier College made me feel unsafe and unheard. Paying tuition for a higher education should not mean having to beg for basic necessities and accountability. My last issue is not a material shortcoming but an issue of ethics and morality. The mistreatment of students at Paier is not an isolated incident, it is a pattern, with a lack of accountability. The owners of Paier College and the college itself are being sued by the Attorney General of Connecticut. The owner shut down another school he owned called Stone Academy. It was shut down rather than comply with an audit by the government in the middle of the school year. The students were left with credits that could very well be unusable and have had to wait for the lengthy legal processes to try to get them any form of justice for their time and money wasted. Instead of any accountability by the ownership, it was blamed on the state of Connecticut when the issue was finally addressed to students. No reassurance was ever given about the uncertainty with the ongoing lawsuits and the future of the school.

Watching colleagues and close friends be failed by the people whose livelihoods relied on our tuition money was a knife in the heart. As artists and creatives we already face many impediments in this capitalist society.

The way this administration has failed myself, my colleagues and my professors is absolutely unacceptable and I will no longer be silent.