Lone MFA student withdraws from program

A year after the entire 2016 MFA class of Roski School of Art and Design withdrew in protest, HaeAhn Kwon, the only remaining student in the program, has announced that she will be leaving the University.

In an open letter to Provost Michael Quick, Kwon faulted the administration for mismanaging the studio arts program and alienating both students and faculty. Along with the social isolation from being the only MFA student, she also cited many of the same concerns as the departed 2016 class, including changes implemented by Roski Dean Erica Muhl and resignations by prominent faculty members.

“Although I knew I would be taking a risk entering a program fraught with controversy, I could not have anticipated the degree to which my entering this school would reaffirm the opinions of those who deem Roski to be on a downward spiral of predatory, wrongheaded and woefully oblivious decision making,” Kwon said in the statement. “I was both socially isolated as well as pedagogically misdirected due to a lack of structure and foresight in the nonexistent studio component of this ersatz program.”

Kwon claimed that her Group Critique class only met once, despite being scheduled to meet twice a week. She said she initially received an “Incomplete” in the course, which was then changed to a “B” without explanation. The University maintains that it does not offer courses that meet only once a semester, and says that she initially received only a “Missing Grade” notation, which was changed when her grade was entered, according to Associate Vice Provost Robin Romans.

Kwon also alleged that her fall semester lacked any review of her studio practice, and was told it would be postponed until the spring because Vice Dean of Critical Studies Amelia Jones had forgotten about that component of the program.

“I was the only student there, yet somehow it was acceptable that a lapse of memory could determine my entire experience and the school’s responsibility to its graduate program,” Kwon said. “It should not be accepted that the jettisoning of the studio program goes unaddressed, nor should Roski be allowed to carry on without accountability for the unacceptable and irresponsible representation of a program whose only option seems to be to burn itself to the ground in hopes that some phoenix may eventually rise.”

Kwon’s departure is only the latest in a series of setbacks for the MFA program following the 2013 appointment of Muhl as Roski dean. In 2014, MFA Program Director A.L. Steiner stepped down without a replacement. Soon after, longtime professor Frances Stark resigned, citing the administration’s lack of transparency and unethical behavior in a statement to USA Today. Her departure was followed by those of graduate coordinator Dwayne Moser and professor Sharon Lockhart.

All seven members of the 2016 MFA class withdrew last May in reaction to reduced funding packages, the loss of promised teaching assistant positions, faculty resignations and curriculum changes. After the negative publicity brought on by these departures, only Kwon, an international student from South Korea, accepted admission to the 2017 studio art MFA class. As an International Artist Fellow, her tuition and expenses were fully covered.

Romans responded to Kwon’s concerns in a statement issued by the University.

“HaeAhn requested numerous accommodations to offset the lack of MFA colleagues, including a request for double studio space, all of which were granted. Her Spring group critique included two graduate artists, award-winning senior artists and a trio of exceptional faculty,” Romans wrote. “HaeAhn received personal invitations from artists who offered impressive networking opportunities. To our dismay, she took advantage of very few of these.”

Nason McKnight, a senior majoring in fine arts, said Kwon’s grievances with the MFA program are emblematic of pervasive problems within Roski as a whole.

“I think Michael Quick and President Nikias have a vision for Roski that does not include bright and innovative contemporary artists like HaeAhn,” McKnight wrote in an email to the Daily Trojan. “President Nikias is most interested in building a flashy facade for USC that is focused on monetizing the experience of being at USC, rather than focusing on serious academic inquiry. Bright young artists like HaeAhn don’t belong at a school like that.”

Romans expressed regret for HaeAhn’s withdrawal, but stated that Roski will be moving forward with new faculty hires and a full class of MFA students joining USC in the fall.

“My view was that she would be the first student as we the program began building itself back up,” Romans said in an email to the Daily Trojan. “I told her, ‘HaeAhn, my hope is that you’ll be able to look back on this moment and see that you are the student that helped re-energize the program toward a successful future.’ So I was sorry that things didn’t work out.”