CalArts President Ravi S. Rajan faced loud boos from students during a May 15 graduation ceremony as he delivered the commencement address. Students held signs reading “Hold the Admin Accountable” and “Save Our Faculty & Staff” in front of the lectern, linking the protest to recent financial problems and staff layoffs. Rajan said the day was about graduates, not him, and referenced concerns about the future feeling shaped by others. Charmaine Jefferson, chair of the board of trustees, joined him onstage and appealed unsuccessfully for students to allow him to finish. The unrest aligns with a multi-million-dollar budget deficit and significant cuts to staff and faculty, alongside staff moves toward unionization citing low pay, heavier workloads, and job insecurity.
"California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) President Ravi S. Rajan was met with loud boos from students at the school's graduation ceremony last Friday, May 15. As Rajan took the stage to deliver his commencement address, students held signs that read "Hold the Admin Accountable" and "Save Our Faculty & Staff" in front of the lectern, references to recent financial issues and staff layoffs at the esteemed Southern California art school."
""Graduates, today is about you, not me," Rajan insisted as the chorus of boos swelled. After delivering the line, "Some of you have told me that the future feels like something that is happening to you, rather than something you are shaping," Charmaine Jefferson, chair of the board of trustees, joined him onstage and unsuccessfully appealed to the students to let Rajan finish his speech."
"The students' discontent comes at a time of crisis at CalArts, which is facing a multi-million-dollar budget deficit and significant cuts to staff and faculty. At the end of 2024, more than 75% of the staff announced their intention to form an employee union, citing low pay, increasing workloads, and lack of job security among their grievances."
""He was booed because many people at CalArts, faculty and students alike, see him as the source of many of the school's financial issues," Matthew LeVeque, who received his MFA and DMA from the CalArts Herb Alpert School of Music, told Hyperallergic about the reaction to Rajan's speech. "His main responsibility is fundraising, but CalArts is in a several-million-dollar structural deficit that he claims 'can't be fundraised out of,'" LeVeque continued."
Read at Hyperallergic
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