The Architect's Newspaper reports on the unceremonious dumping of Art Center College of Design president, Richard Koshalek, whose contract will not be renewed after 2009. Poor fellow. The dismissal, or whatever you want to call it, followed an uproar over how the school's funds were being used. In particular, the funding of a Frank Gehry designed research complex (retail price: $50 million).
On June 18, students and organizers of an online petition named Education First presented the trustees with a letter—signed by over 1,400 students, faculty, and alumni, a number roughly the size of the undergrad student body—demanding that work on the Gehry building be halted. The group called for funds to be devoted instead to the improvement of existing facilities, faculty support, rising tuition costs, scholarships, and recruitment. As to the fate of the Gehry building? According to the school's bureaucrat-bot, the project will be"'reevaluated and reprioritized by the facilities and finance committees of the Board." End transmission.
· Protest in Pasadena [Architect's Newspaper]
· Pasadena Gehry Detractors Holding Strong Lead [Curbed LA]
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