Because of you, we were able to provide the additional funds these students needed to pursue their chosen careers. Over the years, we provided funds to help students with entrance fees for auditions, food for cast parties, and to pay for professionals to put on annual workshops, etc. In addition, we provided more than $40,000 in scholarship money to the students in the Theatre Department.
Graduates of Shorter University’s Theatre Department are currently performing in shows from New York to California and from Montana to Florida. Many of them keep in touch with us, and we hear from them on a regular basis.
It warms our hearts to know that in some small way we have helped them along the way. In addition, current students are performing in Summer Stock all over the United States. The reputation Shorter has had for producing top rated performers has made it easier for them to secure these positions. Thank you again for you generous support. Without it, none of this would have been possible.
Unfortunately, the Theatre Department we have known and loved will no longer exist, and we cannot continue our support for what is left. Only one of the 2012 faculty will be returning , along with less than a dozen of the current students.
At our last board meeting, we awarded the balance of the money we have in our account to six members of this past year’s classes as scholarships for the next school year, regardless of where they are attending college.
And now, the house lights have been dimmed, the stage has been struck and the marquee is dark.
What a loss to Rome.
Walking on eggshells is not the answer to being a better Christian. Having a real realtionship with God is the basis. With that relationship, you naturally want to follow the path God leads you on, not some self righteous figurehead, who pretends he never crossed the line of SIN.
Keep it up S.B.C. and Dr. Dowless, you are about to send an institution that is pushing 150 years old into oblivion. Here's hoping Col. Alfred Shorter haunts you in your dreams, and instills some form of guilt for the destruction you are single handedly causing the legacy of one of Rome's true visionaries. What's next? Are you going to move on the Berry and ruin Martha's dream as well?
Sister GBC college Brewton-Parker put on academic probation by SACS, the accreditation body:
http://www.christianindex.org/8180.article
Previously it had been "on warning" with regards to accreditation:
http://www.sacscoc.org/2011 June Actions and Disclosure Statements/Brewton-Parker College.pdf
"Probation" is a downgrade from "warning"
One of the problems previously cited by SACS was B-P's financial instability. It's spooky that the Georgia Baptist Convention has apparently not addressed that despite the GBC's vast size -- Shorter's present crisis threatens its financial stability, too. Plus, Shorter is right in the middle of its reaccreditation process for the next decade.
When are the key players -- the GBC, J. Robert White, Nelson Price, the Shorter Trustees -- going to step up and put their own money on the line with Shorter? I keep waiting but I'm not seeing it and I'm getting worried.
Thanks for any info folks can share -- I don't find anything about this on Shorter's site.
Where are the supporters of the "New Shorter" to step in and fill this gap? Is anybody trying to set a constructive alternative example of how to run a Fine Arts program? (Embarrassing, obscene videos don't count).
Where is the GBC? I thought they were going to increase their support for Shorter? If they don't, they're just hanging Dr. Dowless and the faithful Remnant out to dry in a time of Tribulation. This indifference is also setting up the trustees, Dr. Nelson Price and Dr. J. Robert White look like chumps and idiots in the broader Baptist world.
I have yet to receive any appeals from Shorter to give -- isn't anyone doing anything?
Has anyone thought of turning to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship or CBF churches (like First Baptist in Rome) for help? They used to do so much for Shorter.
To my surprise and chagrin, it's looking like the Trustees (as wealthy individuals) and the Georgia Baptist Convention are keeping their purses shut. Financially, they're just leaving Shorter "twisting slowly, slowly in the wind"
What would it take on Shorter's part to make this change? Would it really hurt them to reach out? What might they lose? What might they gain?
If the GBC and Shorter's Trustees won't step up their support for Shorter in this time of crisis, even Dr. Dowless' true supporters on the staff and faculty may have no choice but to look elsewhere for reliable jobs.
Given the instability at Shorter, that's what I'd be doing now. Supportive editorials in the GBC's "Christian Index" are nice, but they won't pay your family's groceries bills when your job disappears.
Silly as it is in some ways, this week's flash mob video fiasco just further destabilizes the situation.
The GBC has seized the school, ostensibly to make it more "Christian", but what has really happened is that faculty, administration and staff have left in huge numbers.
It is almost the beginning of July.There are currently 33 faculty positions listed on the Shorter jobs page. There may be more than that, but the last listing is simply for adjunct faculty for the professional program on the Rome and North Atlanta campus. They don't even bother to list the areas where openings exist for the last position.
Any faculty candidate worth their salt - even a Southern Baptist, non-Calvinist, willing-to-sign-the- pledge faculty candidate - that might have made a move to another school would have done so in March, April or May. What remains is one of two things - faculty that no one else would have, or if they are decent and happy where they are, Shorter will have to pay a fortune to woo them away. Ask any Shorter faculty member - they are so under the normal salary for their positions it's not funny.
Then you have groups like this one withdrawing their support. When the community decides that the school is no longer worth supporting, that signifies a major split between town and gown and destroys a long-cherished relationship.
Now, all you GBC parents that were going to send your children to the lily-white school, what do you have left as a result of the takeover? A school without adequate or adequately qualified faculty, community support withdrawn and insufficient support staff to see that your children are properly taken care of.
On top of that, you have a GBC in financial trouble, Cooperative Program money down considerably and a major drop in enrollment, which means that the GBC (read YOU, GBC parents) will have to cough up more money to keep the school running, pay the qualified teachers (if they can be found), and find substitute money to cover the lack of community and alumni donations.
GBC supporters and parents, are you ready for that?
It is with great interest that I read of the appointment of Dr. Sabrina Parton as the Dean of the newly formed School of Arts and Sciences. According to the Shorter website, she is also the faculty member that was selected to co-direct the Quality Education Plan (QEP) required by SACS, the national accreditation agency. The plan details how Christ centered learning will be introduced into the curriculum at Shorter. One of the recommendations was to reach the students by staging a flash mob.
http://www.shorter.edu/qep/index.html
My curiosity got the best of me and I searched YouTube to see if Shorter had actually done such a flash mob and found that Shorter did, in fact, stage a flash mob production. It seems to have been performed in the school’s dining hall, in front of many students, faculty and staff. If fact, if I’m not mistaken, the Shorter University President’s wife, Mrs. Don Dowless, can be clearly be seen clapping and smiling while the dance is being performed.
I have no objection to dancing or otherwise having a good time and this would initially seem to be a harmless video of some of the “goings-on” that occur on any normal school campus. But given further investigation, the dance is performed to a song called “Party Rock Anthem” by a group called “LMFAO”. For those that may not be aware of the acronym this stands for “Laughing my F******* A** off” and contains lyrics that I would not allow my teenage children to listen to or be allowed to play in my house. Some of the more salient lyrics include;
“In the club party rock, lookin' for your girl? She on my jock
Nonstop when we in the spot, booty movin' weight like she on the block
Where the drank? I gots to know, tight jeans, tattoo 'cause I'm rock 'n' roll
Half black, half white, domino, game the money, op-a-doe”
and
“Yo, I’m runnin thru these Ho’s like drano”
http://www.metrolyrics.com/party-rock-anthem-lyrics-lmfao.html
Is this what Dr. Parton regards as “Christ centered” higher education? The students were certainly receiving an education, but not necessarily “Christ Centered”
This is yet another prime example of the hypocrisy that I have come to expect of the current Shorter administration and the “do as I say, not as I do” mentality that permeates the hill. Here is the link to the video that was shown on the Shorter TV station and posted on YouTube where Dr. Parton is clearly credited and thanked for her assistance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY5oBz-pIEk
I have added a link for the lyrics so that those that are interested can review for themselves the content of the “Christ centered” education that Shorter students are receiving. If you think that the students were not aware of the artist’s name and the lyric content, I suggest that you check with your nearest available teenager, as I did. My 17 year old daughter was able to instantly name the correct name of the song, the name of the band and noted with distaste the content of the lyrics.
Wow, Dr. Parton...really?
"...contains lyrics that I would not allow my teenage children to listen to or be allowed to play in my house."
Then he/she goes on a tirade about the despicable lyrics (of which I agreed with her/him). I was on board with the post until the end. Read.
"If you think that the students were not aware of the artist’s name and the lyric content, I suggest that you check with your nearest available teenager, as I did. My 17 year old daughter was able to instantly name the correct name of the song, the name of the band and noted with distaste the content of the lyrics."
If your 17 year old can "instantly name" the artist and title, the album is probably no further than the child's iPod/mp3 player. However, I agree that this band is by no stretch a role model nor do I permit that it in my own house, but clean your house up before you go stomping through ours/theirs.
And they appreciate you "Christian" attitude in dealing with this matter.
The primary reason they have disbanded is that they cannot raise money any longer - donations have stopped, and with a department of less than, say, even 30 students (which they will not even have 1/3 that number), they cannot pull off the fundraisers they have before, this past year's events raised almost nothing. Friends of Theatre COULD be disbanding because it's current members do not support the overall direction of the college, the artistic censorship, and the treatment of those who dedicated significant portions of their life to Shorter. But the bottom line is they can no longer raise money to support something they disagree with.
I would encourage folks who feel so strongly to start their own group such as this, and pick up where FOT left off. If you feel so strongly I would expect you to be more than willing to put aside your free time, careers and hard earned money and support the department.
But please, the personal attacks on a group of selfless folks who always put the students first is completely uncalled for.
Unless you are willing to stand up and do a fraction of what they have done for the students at Shorter, you have no right.
It is with a heavy heart that I write directly to you. I am so very sorry that you and your daughter have been caught in the middle of this 15 year battle. I'm sorry that you and she feel as though you are the last left holding the flag on the ruins of what was.
As a 2005 graduate of the BFA Musical Theatre program - I feel for your daughter. I was taught by professors that weren't afraid of drinking in front of me. I was taught by men and women who viewed the world through the eyes of a child - where everyone is human, and we all belong. I was taught by artists... Artists who fought against censorship - not because they wanted to shock people, but because they wanted us to see the world for what it was.
If what I've read is true - Shorter is rolling the dice for your daughter. I hope that the faculty that they are able to acquire push your daughter and her peers in the same ways we were pushed. Unfortunately, I'd bet against it.
I wish your daughter nothing but the best. And if you're still reading, then I'd offer this advice to her about the industry she is pursuing:
- You are not what school you graduated from. When you get out of college, nobody will care if you're from Shorter, Elon, or Michigan.
- Nobody can tell you your education wasn't good enough. When you stand in your first New York audition and miss a step, drop a line, or let your nerves push that belt sharp - nobody will look to your professors... they will look to you to fix it. And when you can't, you'll quickly learn that your real education has begun. You fail, you learn, you do... if you can't do all 3 comfortably, then don't bother...
- If you do go to New York, keep your money in your front pocket. ;)
I can appreciate your frustration, and I can certainly appreciate your stance in regards of your daughter.
However, instead of taking your anger your out the FoT for no longer providing funds for an institution they cannot in good conscience support, why not direct it towards the administration that has basically forced a "bait and switch" to occur. Your daughter is not going to be getting what she signed up for. She is not going have many of the fine faculty she saw and wanted to learn from when she first arrived.
I applaud her for wanting to stay at Shorter, even though it is not the one that we all once loved. I would be more angry that I wasn't getting what I had orginially thought I was paying for though. That is indeed not a "Christian" way of conducting business.
The Friends of Theatre for Shorter was such an amazingly loving, generous, and supportive group!
It is sad that this great group must end because the Shorter and the Shorter Theatre dept. we knew has ended.
Shame on Shorter.... Shame
Rhuidean