Students Debate Curriculum Changes at Mannes

Nine months after stepping in as the dean of Mannes College, Richard Kessler has proposed a number of controversial changes to the music conservatory’s traditional, classical-based curriculum, compelling some students to take matters into their own hands.

On April 25, Kessler held a town hall with Mannes students and faculty to discuss proposed alterations to the renowned music school’s curriculum. Five days later, on April 30, roughly two dozen Mannes students organized a meeting of their own aimed at gauging a response to the changes. Now students hope to initiate a constructive dialogue with the administration, express their concerns and hopefully reach a compromise over the institution’s future course.

The proposed changes include incorporating entrepreneurship and contemporary music courses into the program’s curriculum. Faculty members involved in the curriculum discussions said most of the changes would not be implemented until the Fall 2013 semester. But some students see them as representing a shift away from Mannes’ mission.

“We chose to go to a conservatory,” said Mannes junior Avery Amero, who was recently elected the division’s USS representative. “Anything else besides that is a distraction.”

Shannon Calandrillo, who graduated from Mannes last year and currently works as a music theory tutor at the school, expressed similar concerns. “I feel that if the training we provide here is truncated in order to allow for business and finance classes,” Calandrillo said, “the average Mannes student will graduate with a lower degree of musicianship, which means the esteem the school holds in the professional world will diminish.”

According to several Mannes students who were present at the town hall organized by Kessler on April 25, the discussion included some heated moments. Mannes student and departing USS senator Hajir Sailors, who attended the meeting, said that Kessler was dismissive of particular questions and downplayed his role in the curricular decision-making process — labeling the changes as “non-negotiable.”

Sailors said that when he discussed the matter with New School President David Van Zandt, however, “Everything [Van Zandt] said made it sound like these changes were Kessler’s ideas.”

Frank Nemhauser, a faculty member at the Techniques of Music program, told the Free Press his impression was that the majority of the proposed changes originated at the top of The New School administration, rather than at Mannes. “Faculty have been working and holding meetings to ensure we maintain the integrity of the program,” Nemhauser said.

“Kessler has definite ideas on what he wants to change at Mannes,” added Mannes faculty member Elizabeth Aaron. “We’re very open to changes, provided that they don’t ruin the curriculum that we all feel so strongly about.”

Mannes was founded in 1916 by New York Symphony Orchestra concertmaster David Mannes, only joining The New School in 1989. The college has offered degrees in music since 1953, and the curriculum has always been heavily based in classical theory. But some students fear that the curriculum adjustments will lead Mannes in the wrong direction as an institution.

“Rather than trying to bring us in line with other universities, we should be focusing on what makes Mannes truly unique and what we should be protecting,” said Mannes freshman Naomi Brockwell, who expressed worry that the proposed entrepreneurship classes will dilute the program and steal pivotal practice time.

After Kessler’s town hall, Mannes student Alex Bryson organized a students-only gathering on April 30 with the goal of forming a coherent, unified opinion on the administration’s changes.

“The trouble with the town hall format,” Bryson said, “is that one can’t really expect a constructive input from students who haven’t had an opportunity to discuss it amongst themselves first.”

Bryson said the student forum was “a valuable exercise” in preparing for further discussions regarding the curriculum. “[I am] trying to create a forum through which we can properly gauge the opinions of students in a way that will enable them to have a constructive input,” he added.

Following the recent events at the school, Mannes USS senator Avery Amero said she and other students have expressed a desire to start an independent body of student government at Mannes, in order “to make sure [we] have a say” in future program decision.

In an email to the Free Press, Kessler said that he was open to student and faculty input regarding the changes. “I am always happy to attend any student meeting, as long as the students can treat each other and the larger community with respect,” Kessler wrote.

On May 4, Kessler’s office sent out an invitation to another town hall at Mannes on May 14 and addressed the various concerns raised at the first gathering.

“I want to applaud all of your for your passion and express my admiration for the kaleidoscope of opinions about the future,” Kessler wrote. “I also want to encourage you to make your voices heard, for civic engagement is the bedrock of what The New School stands has always stood for.”

Reporting by Will Carter, Emily Katz, Rey Mashayekhi and Heather Pusser