By Maddie Garvis//
The Hood College Dance Ensemble held an outdoor concert for their family members on April 24 after posting an online petition directed toward the administration to allow them to do so.
The Dance Ensemble posted the petition to Change.org on April 14 after the administration denied the group’s request to have an outdoor spring concert with off-campus guests.
Caroline Jeranek, Dance Ensemble co-captain, said that organization leaders met with Dean of Students Ron Wiafe to ask that they be allowed to hold a concert exclusively for their family members. Jeranek said that a few days after the meeting, they were informed that the COVID-19 Emergency Response Team (CERT) had denied their request.
Jeranek said that she was given two reasons for the denial of the request. One was that the New Horizon Plan doesn’t allow external guests on campus. The other was that Hood was not able to find a staff member to supervise the hour-long event.
Jeranek said that she and the rest of the Dance Ensemble found those reasons to be “upsetting” because Hood’s athletic teams were able to celebrate their senior weekend with parent spectators and other off-campus guests just days earlier.
“It seems hypocritical to allow some student groups the privilege of sharing their sport with families, but not others,” Jeranek said.
Dance ensemble co-captain Maggie George also expressed her frustration with the initial rejection.
“Hood College prides themselves on equal opportunity for all their students and student activities, however we were not experiencing that level of support,” George said. “When we attempted to speak to individuals in the administration about the inequities and unfair treatment to the Dance Ensemble compared to athletics, we were shot down.”
The petition, titled “Stop Unfair Treatment of the Arts at Hood College,” was active until April 21, amassing 165 signatures. The petition stated that “it is evident that Hood College does not value their arts programs and gives favor to athletics. We demand the College take action and evaluate the inconsistencies within their New Horizon Plan.”
In addition to signing, several students left comments on the petition, including Hannah Levi who said: “The favoritism Hood College shows to the athletic department has always been obvious,” and Molly Herdering, who said: “The arts deserve better.”
Jeranek said that the administration was quick to meet with her after she posted the petition, and she was asked twice to take the petition down. Jeranek said that in her meeting with Dean Wiafe following the posting of the petition, he told her that he believed the administration would be much quicker to act if she took down the petition.
“I was a bit taken back by this because I could tell that they really wanted the petition off the web,” Jeranek said. “While I have declared victory on the petition and it can no longer be signed, I have no intention of deleting it.”
“The petition was started to bring attention to these issues and administration began to panic,” George said. “At the end of the day, the administration did not like that the Dance Ensemble was drawing attention to flaws in the system.”
Wiafe disagreed with the Dance Ensemble’s version of events. “The comment about the administration being quicker to act if the petition isn’t taken down, is simply untrue,” he said.
“I met with the Dance Ensemble to work through the logistics of their request on Friday, April 16. The Dance Ensemble obtained an approval email about their event on Saturday, April 17,” Wiafe said. “I am happy that the Dance Ensemble was able to host a performance for their external guests yesterday. I hope all the students in the group have a great rest of the spring semester.”
Jeranek said that the administration was cooperative in coordinating an additional outdoor concert for family members on April 24 behind Whitaker Campus Center where there was plenty of space for the dancers and social distancing in the audience.
The Dance Ensemble held their usual spring concert in the Rosenstock Auditorium on April 23 and 24 for students and other members of the Hood community to attend, where social distancing and masks were required for all audience members.
At the concert, the Dance Ensemble celebrated 21 years of the organization, as well as the retirement of their artistic director, Fran Marsili. The Dance Ensemble also announced Dorian Young and Zoe Finholm as their new co-captains.
Jeranek said that she and the other members of the Dance Ensemble are incredibly thankful to friends, family and even strangers who signed the petition. “Even students who are on athletic teams voiced that they felt this was hypocritical and unfair treatment on Hood’s part,” Jeranek said.
“The support from the Hood community is overwhelming,” George said. “We had school athletes, students, family members and even strangers sign the petition. I truly did not expect the amount of support.”
Be the first to comment