THE END

The Final Years: A Brief History of SMFA from 2013 to 2017

It started as a quest for accreditation,

but became so much more...

IT WAS 2013
AND SMFA
WAS IN A
CRISIS.

This was four years after the start of the new regime
and my first year at the Museum School.
The students and faculty were, for the most part,
passively taking abuse from the

leaders of the administration.

The whole school felt like a puppet show,

with the administration pulling the strings.
there was a small, but dedicated

However,
group of us - rebels - fighting for the
integrity of the school.

We were meant to be the mise-en-scne for

the fire coming

RIP

meant to
the school back
from the corruptive grasp
of the new leadership.

ic ts .
o f th e c o n fl re d
t
h
ig
e
h
e
t th
te
re s is ta n c e a g , th e s c h o o l w a s p la s iz in g
e
th
d
e
in
jo
n
I
o rg a
re fl y in
B a n n e r s w e s e n ti n g s tu d e n ts w e re d p ro te s ts .
es an
s , a n d d is
p e r fo r m a n c
w it h p o s te r

THE WALLS WERE

C R Y IN G F O R R E V O L U T IO

N!

unfortunately...

WE WERE

MET WITH

2014

Our figh
HARSH R
E TA
oppose t for justice a
d by the
n d e d u c L I AT I O N S .
n e w l ea n a r ro w i d e o l o at i o n w a s
ders o
gies of
Our
the
had no committed an f t h e s c h o o
d deter
chance,
l
.
min
Th
fo
e schoo
r
l s r e g i m o u r n u m b e r s e d g r o u p
a n d l e g e h a d t h e m w e re t o o f e w
one
.
itim
And so,
S M FA f o a c y t o s u b d u e y , a u t h o r i t y ,
llowed
u
the path s.
t o w a rd
and

but...

2015
The powers that be continued to make authoritarian
decisions in disregard of students interests. The
new policies that began in 2010 were starting
to realize their full negative potential. While
students were hit hard by these actions, faculty
received cruel treatment too. No one at SMFA
was on the same page, as information was
continuously withheld from the community.
All full-time faculty were demoted to
adjunct positions with no benefits and
lower pay, all the visiting professors
were fired, and the Tufts Vis/Crit
and English professors left due to
poor and uncompetitive working
conditions. Worst of all, the best,
most challenging, and political
professors were executed so
their ideas would never spread.

2016
SMFA continued
toward its demise.
The administration, in their
private, closed-door meetings,
had failed the school, just as the
rebellious students predicted.
Their models were simply

not sustainable.

While accreditation was achieved,

it was the only positive outcome
of the administrations reign...

Enrollment (an incoming

undergraduate class of 20) and
retention (30%) hit their lowest
rates in the history of SMFA.
Tufts had long vanished from
most students' memories.
Academic courses were instead
offered at local high schools.
Registration and Add/Drop
shrunk to a mere 45 minutes.
Several areas were closed, with
the rest departmentalized into
traditional categories.
Majors became a requirement,
and were assigned based on
your incoming portfolio.
A Foundation Year became
required for all first-years.
All remaining faculty were
replaced by mindless, unfeeling
surrogates, who look like our
old faculty, but are programmed
to respond according to the
administrations mandates.
The facilities, particularly in the
basement, degraded beyond
mold, reaching lethal toxicity
levels.
Walter left the school.

SMFA
was in
the worst
condition of
its time.
Eventually,
the school had to
file for BANKRUPTCY.
All assets were liquidated.
This lead to the unimaginable
and tragic next step of
SMFA's FORECLOSURE.
But, the administration had
one last ditch effort to save the
school from its total shutdown...

2016

2017
THE ADMINISTRATION DECIDED TO
TRANSFER CONTROL OF SMFA TO
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY!
(NU now owns more than half of Boston)

Northeasterns absorption of SMFA resulted in

a new and improved art school, titled the

NU School of Art and Design, or NU-SAD

(pronounced new sad). Top-level administrators

received dean positions at this new institution,
with a substantial raise. While there were many
drawbacks to this ultimately preventable conclusion,
the major goal of creating new degree-granting
programs flourished. These new degrees became
easier to obtain then ever before, as they can be
purchased based on a variety of payment plans.

Th e ne w pr og ra m s in
cl ud e:

MFA/MA - Dual Degree in partnership with the

Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security
BFA - Commercial Drone Design
BFA - Painting
BA - Hacking for the NSA
MA - WALM-ART

We made this dystopian comic zine because we care about

SMFA and its future. This idea formed not from spite or angst,
but from anxiety. We are anxious with anticipation of the
unknown here at SMFA.
Consistently, we have been placed completely in the dark
about what lies in the future of this school. All we have been
left to do is imagine what a future that cant be talked about
would look like. Hopefully, we can all start to talk about the
real future of SMFA, and build it together.
With hugs and solidarity,
Chase Carter, BFA 15 - Student Affairs Advisory Committee
Margarita Kruchinskaya, BFA 14 - Library Committee
& thank you Julie Frances for providing the illustrations.

THE BEGINNING
If you also care about the future of SMFA and its effects on
your education, please join us for a meeting to respond to
and discuss this recent All School Meeting. Our meeting
will be scheduled sometime in the next coming weeks. Look
communication.
Only together will our voices be heard, and only together can
we shape our own future at SMFA.