The art school’s president puts the blame squarely on Florida’s culture wars.
By Florence Fahringer
Original Air Date: August 9, 2024
Host: The engine of the Culture Coast is sputtering, thanks to the culture wars in Florida. Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota is a top school, not just in the United States but worldwide. It has been cranking out some of the biggest talent in the animation and film industries, and the graduates who linger and stay in the area have been fueling local artistic production. But, as classes at the private college resume on Aug. 19, the next generation of students will be considerably smaller than the crowds of years past. Florence Fahringer has that story.
Florence Fahringer: The Ringling College of Art and Design is one of the cornerstones of the Sarasota college community. It has the largest student body of any college in the area — double that of New College — and its founder, John Ringling, is perhaps one of the most important figures in Sarasota history. For the past couple of decades, Ringling College has been growing at a steady and substantial pace. So a sudden drop in enrollment was the last thing Ringling College President Doctor Larry Thompson was expecting.
Thompson
Larry Thompson: So what’s happened is very, very interesting. We’ve been growing over the last 20 years, and especially in the last 10. And even this past year, we had the highest enrollment we’ve ever had — 1,722 or something like that — In terms of number of students in the fall. But basically it’s looking like it’ll be a decrease of 2–3%, something like that, overall. But I will say that we have seen a decrease in the number of new students coming this fall.
FF: And does that mean the incoming class for this year is smaller than the one for last year?
LT: Yes, that’s what that means.
FF: By how much?
LT: It’s probably somewhere around — we obviously don’t have the numbers yet — but it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of probably 15–20%. And that’s substantial. It’s still okay because of the larger numbers on the other side but it doesn’t mean for the future necessarily, that’s great.
FF: And what was your projected growth?
LT: Well, we projected that it’d probably be an increase of about five percent or so or you know, three, four percent.
FF: Ringling College has experienced its share of ups and downs over the course of the past twenty years, but nothing quite on this level.
LT: We had some struggles in the time of COVID; we had a decrease in enrollment then. And we had a decrease in enrollment during one of the economic parts and somewhere in 2010, 2011, something like that; we saw a decrease in the freshman class, which led to a decrease in overall enrollment when you started doing that. In general, we have not had much of that.
FF: Were those about the same kind of figure, 15–20% decrease? Or was it less?
LT: It probably was around 10% — I can’t remember exactly — but, around 10–15% maybe? Especially in COVID; COVID was a tough time.
FF: Unlike the global pandemic of 2020 or the financial crisis of a decade-and-a-half ago, no comparable global disaster has happened within the past year — and yet, Ringling College is suffering an enrollment drop greater than during any global disaster in recent memory. When looking for a possible explanation, one statistic stood out to Thomspon.
LT: When we surveyed our 2025 prospective student pool in January — Because we were seeing we weren’t getting as many applications — and that’s surprising because we’re one of the top art design colleges in the world — we found out that those considering art school, 95% of them considered the political climate of the state or region. So, probably, it’s that; it’s because of some of the politics here, as well as that kind of political climate. Because most of our students are from out of state. And there’s no question that they’re looking at those issues and maybe deciding not to even apply.
FF: One important detail: unlike New College of Florida, Ringling is a private university. That means it’s remained relatively unaffected by the past few years of culture war emanating from Tallahassee. But as Thompson stated, it’s not only the political climate of the college that 95% of prospective art students consider, but the political climate of the state. Florida has made national headlines in recent years as the place “where woke goes to die,” to quote Governor Ron DeSantis. The “anti-woke” agenda has involved laws which discriminate against the trans community particularly in state-owned facilities, and those which discriminate against Chinese nationals, particularly within the state university system. Both demographics make up sizable chunks of the Ringling community. Even though none of these laws directly affect Ringling College and its student body, they certainly don’t lend an inviting tone to the state.
On top of “culture war” concerns, Thompson also recognizes other factors which may be exacerbating the issue.
LT: There’s other issues as well. Because college enrollments are decreasing overall. So there’s that whole component. There was also another issue that was going on this year, which was the FAFSA Fiasco […] They’ve changed the entire form this year. They weren’t able to get the thing working right; all kinds of glitches and a system. It just was a royal mess. And then they hadn’t gotten it even working right until May or August, when all of these things should have been done in February, because that’s when students make their decision.
FF: Do, you know if you have a higher or lower percentage of students who are using FAFSA compared to—
LT: Yeah, almost all of our students use the FAFSA form to apply for financial aid, because we’re expensive. And so they need financial aid to be able to come here. Obviously those who are poorer need more financial aid than the others. But if you can’t get into the system, then you don’t know what it is you will have for financial aid to be able to come
FF: While the college is powerless to affect the greater political climate of the state, it can do its best to let students know that the climate of the college remains inclusive.
Ringling College of Art and Design classroom.
LT: You know, we’re in Florida but we’re not Florida, right? […] One of the issues is, how do you get the word out that we are this inclusive environment located in the state of Florida? When you have all the other things going on nationally or whatever, about the cultural wars that might be happening in the state; how do you get the message that we are different, if someone doesn’t even bother to apply to us?
FF: How are you planning around this? Is there more outreach, is there more clarification?
LT: There’s much more outreach, much more clarification, much more discussion with students and parents and so on and so forth […] It’s disturbing to me personally because I’m a huge believer in the importance of diversity. And especially on a college campus, because I think that really enhances the environment of learning. And so it’s bothersome when these kinds of things are hindering students from coming to an institution as great as Ringling.
FF: This is Florence Fahringer, reporting for WSLR News.
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