Victoria Richmond

Contributor 

Enrollment for fall semester has already begun, and as I was enrolling in classes I started to have concerns because I realized there are not enough classes listed in my Visual Arts Major and Dance Minor.

I was not happy to see that there weren’t a lot of available classes with hands-on art besides Drawing II and there were no dance classes except one above 300. This does not help me complete my degree requirements in the timeframe that I have placed for myself.

I want to graduate by spring 2016, but it is hard for me to fit all my classes in that I need. I feel that these classes are very important because we need to experience art physically. I have been taking lecture classes for the past 4 years and I was hoping to do more studio and dance classes here at CSUSM since I did see them offer these visual arts classes when I enrolled as a transfer. Now that I am enrolled, that perception has drastically changed and I am concerned about my future goals and trying to fit it all.

A number of classes on campus have been eliminated for future semesters. Recently, it has been addressed that this issue is across the board in all colleges on campus, not just VPA. The School of Arts was just officially opened. My expectations in what that meant are that classes would be provided for me to pursue a career in arts and the faculty would be available to help me grow in my field of study.

I am also very sad that they didn’t hire Melissa Adao back for the Fall 2015 year as the hip-hop teacher. That will be a loss for CSUSM. I have been taking hip-hop classes for years; even though she only taught a one credit class, she is amazing. How she can teach us so much in 50 minutes — we basically learned an entire score each class period. There are so many talented art students at CSUSM and many complain about the same issues I’m seeing.

If I had known about these circumstances before, I would have accepted my approval to attend SDSU and I probably would not have chosen to come to this school. The convenience of the campus location does not make up for the inconvenience of me not graduating on time. I also have to worry about completing my degree before my time lapse for my language requirements for graduation. That is a whole other concern that drastically affects my education plan.