You have to find us, we don’t find you.
Briar Cliff is a friendly, Franciscan, liberal arts university. The well-knit community and the appreciation for religion is something you quickly notice when taking a tour and by watching the introduction video to the university on their website. “Chase your Dreams. Here. Now.”
If you watch this video you see groups of people working in labs, volunteering, and taking part in nursing projects. Although the video is beautiful it minimizes one of the schools main values. The Liberal Arts. Only 6-10 seconds of the 1:33-minute video express these values by showing an art major working on the pottery wheel and a boy playing the piano.
That’s it. By this pretense, it makes the school seem as if it is a school that values the STEM and medical programs over the humanities, which causes a problem that stops potential students from even being interested in coming to this university. However, the school not having these programs is not the case.
Briar Cliff has strong art, writing, and music programs. Each program has amazing professors that care about what they teach. They all have a strong passion for what they do, and that is something that is far more valuable than just any other teacher. They are not only your professor. They are also your friend and mentor. Although there are a few moments during the year that the arts are recognized by P.R. it does not feel like enough.
We are not represented well enough, but we are here.
If you explore the Briar Cliff website, even more, you will notice that most of the banners used on each page have multiple pictures representing the STEM and nursing programs. There is only one representing the humanities. It is a picture honoring the 27th release of the Briar Cliff Review.
When prospective students are given a tour some of the tour guides do not even know what North Hall is. North hall is the Art Department’s building where the drawing area is upstairs and the studio and ceramics space is on the main floor. I believe that as a tour guide, you should know what each building is and what it is used for.
The only thing to signify that we have a strong art program is the small Gallery in the Stark Center where the seniors hold individual shows. The only way that either of these programs are mentioned is if the student interested asks for it.
Even if you are not an art major you are able to partake in most, if not all, of the art courses, offered here. Several students have said that their advisors told them they could not take pottery, design, or drawing as a non-art major. That is false. The art department is open to any and all majors, the credits for the class will be put in as an elective.
Also, students interested in choir usually do not get the chance to see it for themselves because the tours are given so early in the day. The students are not able to witness the choir practice or see what is going on during studio in North Hall.
We value your creative dreams
Not a single one of the humanities professors will tell you that your dream is unimportant or impossible. Their encouragement is something that even helps me, as a double “impractical” major, survive even the hardest of times.
Although it may not seem like we are here, we are. We are waiting for people to come into Briar Cliff to sing their hearts out, paint with the intensities of Jackson Pollock, or write the next great American novel. Your dream is as good as any. We have been waiting “525,600 minutes” for someone like you. Come and join us!
