To the Editor:

Re: “AAP Dean Urges Milstein Construction to Move Forward,” Letters, Feb. 9

If studio space is to an architecture student what laboratory space is to a chemistry student then what is no space to an art student?

Architecture, Art and Planning Dean Kent Kleinman’s letter urging Milstein Hall construction to move forward demonstrated gross disregard for the art students enrolled in the school he presides over. Dean Kleinman stated that “Studio Space is a teaching and learning tool, a pedagogical necessity, not merely square footage.” But in the case for art students it is a matter of square footage. The painters, printmakers and digital media majors are all situated in the same small space that serves the specific needs of painters. The photo students inhabit a recently installed trailer in the parking lot. The sculpture students inhabit the foundry, which also does not provide enough space.

The foundry is due to close mid-semester because of the construction of Milstein, so this huge project poses many fundamental questions about the fate of the art students. Where will thesis sculpture students, MFA students and faculty be relocated?

If the dean is at all interested in the health of AAP as a whole and not just one department, he will make sure that this “pedagogical space” is available for all AAP students equally who pay the high costs of tuition. Now is the time for interdepartmental conversation, and Milstein could be a necessary venue for this if the dean seizes the opportunity.

Maggie Prendergast ’11