University of the Arts President Resigns After School Announces Closure

The University of the Arts president, Kerry Walk, has resigned only a few days after her administration said that the nearly 150-year-old institution in Philadelphia would close because of declining revenue and enrollment, union officials representing school employees told The New York Times on Tuesday.

News of the resignation, which earlier appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, broke as students were protesting the closure on campus, holding signs with messages including “It’s not noble for artists to suffer” and “We are not trash don’t throw us away.” Union officials told The New York Times that a meeting to start layoff negotiations on behalf of some 450 employees was abruptly canceled Tuesday by the school’s outside legal counsel as faculty learned that Walk was stepping down.

“We are appalled,” United Academics of Philadelphia, one of the unions representing employees, wrote in a statement. “This sudden resignation, announced via the media, continues the pattern of disregard and cruelty to which the University of Arts has subjected employees and students.”

On Sunday, the University of the Arts posted a statement to its website saying that “despite our best efforts, we could not ultimately identify a viable path for the institution to remain open and in the service of its mission.” It has not commented on Walk’s resignation; she served as university president for less than a year. Before she joined the University of the Arts, Walk was the president of Marymount Manhattan College for eight years.

On Tuesday afternoon, the university sent an email to students confirming refunds for the summer and fall semesters.

The school was created by the 1985 merger of the Philadelphia College of Art and the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts. It offered about 40 majors, such as dance, theater and visual art. Notable alumni included Charles Sheeler, Dotty Attie, Louise Fishman, Stephen Powers, Neil Welliver and Deborah Willis.