The West Texas A&M dance program has recently been under review by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
According to the THECB, the review process includes “review of the statistical data with emphasis on indicators of student success and program excellence.”
Dr. Robert Hansen, department head of Art, Theatre, and Dance, explained that the board conducts periodic reviews of all programs and a program must average five graduates per year over a five-year span.
“The dance program has fallen below these standards,” Hansen said. “The report came back that they were going to close the program, so we began the appeal process.”The Texas Administrative code states that institutions can appeal the decision to eliminate a program by “[requesting] an exemption from the coordinating board at a quarterly board meeting.”
To request a temporary exemption, the university must provide an explanation of low production, justification for continuing the program and a plan of action for the degree program.
Dr. Jessica Mallard, interim dean of the College of Fine Arts and Humanities, said that the coordinating board is “looking at [the program] from a numbers perspective.”
“It just so happened that the year they looked at our numbers, the numbers were low,” she said. “If they would have looked at the numbers this year, we would have been okay.”
Hansen said that the dance program hit a couple of years of unsuccessful recruiting, but this year has yielded 13 new majors.
“Thirteen new majors in a program with 30 majors is huge,” he said.
He also said that with the number of new majors and nine anticipated graduates, the dance program should be back in compliance within a year.
Mallard said that another part of the University’s appeal is that “once students get in the dance program, they stay there.”
One of the biggest defenses that will be presented in the appeal process is the dance program’s correlation with the TEXAS Musical Drama and Lone Star Ballet.
“Our dance program is vital to the culture in this part of the state,” Hansen said. “Many of the dancers in the Lone Star Ballet and TEXAS come from WT.” Hansen feels that the loss of the dance program would negatively impact both the Lone Star Ballet and the TEXAS Musical Drama.
In the 2011 season of the TEXAS Musical Drama, 39 dancers were from WT. In the 2010-2011 season of the Lone Star Ballet, 10 WT dancers performed in Dracula, 10 in The Nutcracker, and 11 in Lone Star Trilogy and there is currently nine students working on Jekyll and Hyde.
“Even if they’re not impressed with our numbers, they’ll see what a big part of our community the dance program is,” Mallard said.
President O’Brien will go before the THECB this month to present the University’s case. If the coordinating board denies the request for appeal, the BFA of Dance would no long be offered, but the dance program would continue under a different degree.
However, Mallard said everyone “feels like they have a really good chance” and they are feeling positive about the situation.
“We have an extremely strong case,” Hansen said. “Once we make it clear, they’ll be supportive.”
