Outrage: Longy announces closure of Community Programs division

On Thursday March 6, at 9:07 a.m. the Longy Faculty Union received an email from the administration stating that the Longy Board of Governors had “voted to discontinue Longy’s Preparatory and Continuing Studies programs effective Aug. 31, 2013.” A little more than an hour later, Longy faculty received an email from the administration, stating that the decision had been made “in order to support the continuing growth of our conservatory and address our critical need for practice and teaching space.” About an hour later an email was sent from the administration to students and families of the Community Programs Division. During the day, Conservatory students were also notified, and told, “Starting this fall, you will begin to see the immediate benefits of additional classroom and rehearsal space.”

The announcement came on a day when the School knew that LFU President Clayton Hoener was out of town on tour with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra.

Media coverage

As early as 5:45 p.m. that same day, a blog appeared on the The Phoenix website, written by S. I. Rosenbaum here. By evening, coverage of the closing was on WBUR radio and website. In the morning, the Boston Globe covered the story here. Classical music blogger and author Norman Lebrecht also picked it up immediately here. By last evening, Lee Eiseman wrote a story in the The Boston Musical Intelligencer. Very passionate and animated discussions have followed in comment sections on these blogs expressing tremendous outrage against the Longy administration for both the action that it has announced and the manner in which this announcement was made. We encourage you to read and contribute your thoughts as well.

What is at stake here

The decision will affect more than 83 members of the Longy faculty, who are listed on Longy’s website as teaching in the Community Programs division, along with their nearly 1000 students. The majority of these teachers will lose their jobs at Longy entirely (54 according to Longy’s press release), although a number will be able to continue at Longy with less work, because they are also on the Conservatory faculty. As a result of the reduction in hours of work, some of these Conservatory faculty members who have been teaching in Community Programs may also lose some benefits as well.

What could be lost if we don’t act now

The Community Programs division of the School is currently offering lessons and classes to non-degree-seeking adults and children in Composition and Theory, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Early Music, Percussion, Piano, Strings, Voice, and Woodwinds and Brass. Community Programs class offerings begin for students as young as one-year old, and extend to our oldest students in a special program at Cadbury Commons Assisted Living in Cambridge. Children of all ages come to Longy to study; some eventually become professional musicians, and others find interesting new ways to incorporate their love for music into their lives as amateurs (see Ten Years: The Michael B. Packer Award, LFU News, April 23, 2012). Some adult students in non-musical professions fit music lessons and classes at Longy into busy lives. Other adults who study at Longy may have degrees in music, or play professionally already, but they return to Longy to polish and round out their skills and musicianship in an environment that has been both friendly and marked by excellence.

Community Programs students have come from many socio-economic backgrounds. They have included, among others, both Harvard professors and students at Cambridge public schools, some of whom have attended Longy on scholarship. A number of students take lessons and classes with more than one teacher, or have family members who take lessons with a second teacher. Following each of their teachers to different new locations may cause logistical difficulties for families of these students, or cause some students to disrupt beneficial student-teacher relationships.

Non-degree students of all ages have come to Longy for many decades from Cambridge and surrounding towns, from out of state, and from many countries around the world, in order to take advantage of the School’s well-rounded and world renowned faculty, many of whom have advanced degrees and considerable performing experience locally, nationally, and internationally.

Many members of the current Community Programs faculty were also members of the Conservatory faculty prior to the “faculty realignment” (see Voices of the “realigned”, LFU News, June 10, 2010), which was then announced as a one-time event. Some of these faculty members helped the School gain accreditation for the Master of Music degree. Many current Community Programs faculty have served the School for decades, often giving extra hours in service to the School, because they were inspired by the idea of offering excellent, well-rounded music education to students of all ages and levels.

The Community Programs also currently offers a recently introduced Pre-College Academy for children grades 9 through 12, as well as the Young Performers Program, which was founded by former Longy Director and eminent violinist Roman Totenberg in 1977. The Young Performers Program is currently open to students, ages 8 through 13. There have been no provisions announced to students who are now in the midst of these programs regarding the certificates that they were expecting to receive from the School in the coming years.

Funds for numerous annual awards intended for students in the Preparatory or Continuing Studies programs (which comprise the Community Programs division) have been donated to the School over many years by people who particularly valued the kind of musical education provided to non-degree students. These awards include the Sosman, Kotok and Packer awards among others. What will become of these awards and the funds attached to them?

The role of the Union

The LFU Executive Board itself will also be severely affected by the School’s decision to close Community Programs, as four of its current members teach solely in Community Programs. Three of these four members were also on the Conservatory faculty prior to the faculty “realignment” of 2010. For the Union to continue after the announced closure of Community Programs, it would have to elect four new members to the Board from the Conservatory faculty, to take office as soon as the division closure occurs.

While the School has the right to make certain types of strategic planning decisions without bargaining with the Union, under the National Labor Relations Act, it is not at all clear that their decision to close Community Programs is such a decision. The School may be required to bargain over this decision with the Longy Faculty Union. Furthermore, in any case, the School is required to bargain with the Union over the effects of such a decision on the Collective Bargaining Unit (CBU) members. Effects bargaining typically includes issues such as severance pay, benefits, timing, and potentially many other issues.

The facts

While the School claims that space concerns are motivating their decision, the facts say something completely different. On March 17, 2009, Karen Zorn wrote to the staff and faculty, “Last semester our Concert Office and Operations Departments conducted a room use survey to help us understand how we use our space. After analyzing our data we discovered some interesting findings, the most important being: Longy does, in fact, have enough space. Currently, our buildings are only being used 66% of the time. Another way of saying this is: Longy is unoccupied 34% of the time.” [emphasis from original email]

Since that time, Community Programs enrollment  has declined by approximately 200 students, and Conservatory enrollment has not changed much in the last four years, hovering around 200 students. Furthermore, the School recently acquired a new building. So the space situation is considerably better than when Zorn declared that Longy "does, in fact, have enough space." 

NLRB investigates Longy once again

In the meantime, what Longy did not tell you is that the National Labor Relations Board is, once again, deep into a lengthy investigation, now more than seven months old, of charges filed against it by the Longy Faculty Union for numerous violations of the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB has told the LFU Executive Board that it has found merit with approximately ten different allegations and there are presently two separate amended sets of charges pending at the NLRB. We expect the results of that lengthy investigation within the next few weeks and we will keep you apprised.

How you can help

We have been grateful to hear from supporters offering help, and have been gratified to read comments on various public forums in support of Community Programs faculty over the last two days. We feel shock and pain over the abrupt administrative decision, and the way in which it was conveyed to faculty, students, and the community. Anyone who has read the LFU News from the beginning knows, though, that we have had cause to feel similar emotions in the past few years.

It has been and continues to be our ambition to take the high road as we respond to the disrespect and dismissiveness with which the administration has treated us and our students. We invite our supporters to contribute to public forums so that the wider community understands the massive extent of the potential loss here. We encourage you to do any or all of the following that you feel comfortable doing to support our cause:

1. Write to Leon Botstein, President of Bard College: president@bard.edu
2. Write to the Longy Board of Governors: Matina S. Horner (Chair), Virginia Meany (Vice-Chair), Melinda N. Donovan (Secretary), Peter C. Aldrich, Sandra Bakalar, Leon Botstein, Thomas M. Burger, Gene D. Dahmen, Patricia H. Deyton, Robert S. Epstein, Harriet E. Griesinger, Charlotte I. Hall, George F. Hamel Jr., Timothy J. Jacoby, Ruth M. McKay, Louise Ambler Osborn, Patricia Ostrander, Dimitri Papadimitriou, Kalen Ratzlaff, David E. Schwab II, Charles P. Stevenson Jr., Marilyn Ray Smith, Robert B. Straus, Jeannette H. Taylor, J. David Wimberly, Gary Wolf, Karen Zorn.
3. Write to the Longy Administration: Karen Zorn (karen.zorn@longy.edu), Wayman Chin (wayman.chin@longy.edu), Kalen Ratlzlaff (kalen.ratzlaff@longy.edu), Miriam Eckelhoefer (miriam.eckelhoefer@longy.edu).
4. Post on any of the blogs linked above.
5. Post on the Longy School Facebook page here.
6. Post on the Longy Faculty Union page here.
7. Contact Mayor of Cambridge Henrietta Davis at mayor@cambridgema.gov or call 617-349-4321.
8. Contact Cambridge City Council Members E. Denise Simmons (dsimmons@cambridgema.gov), Leland Cheung (lcheung@cambridgema.gov), Marjorie C. Decker (mdecker@cambridgema.gov), Craig A. Kelley (ckelley@cambridgema.gov), David P. Maher (dmaher@cambridgema.gov), Kenneth E. Reeves (kreeves@cambridgema.gov), Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. (timtoomey@aol.com), Minka van Beuzekom (minka@cambridgema.gov).
9. Contact State Representatives Stephen F. Lynch (email or 202-225-8273) and Michael E. Capuano (email or 202-225-5111).
10. Contact Governor Deval Patrick (email or 617-725-4005)

We also encourage our readers to link to the LFU News and the Longy Faculty Union website on those forums, on Twitter and on their Facebook pages. We will continue to check public forums to look for constructive ideas that people may have, and, of course, and always invite people to reach us directly at longyfacultyunion@gmail.com.

Please help us get the word out to the entire musical world as this is an affront to everything we hold dear as musicians, educators and artists.

Reminder about civility

We want to remind supporters, as they deal with the high emotional impact caused by recent decisions of the School, to keep comments civil and avoid ad-hominem or vulgar personal attacks. The spirit of the old Longy inspired dedication of faculty and students to an environment that nurtured excellence, and we invite our readers to help us find a way to bring that spirit into the future.

Personal notes

• The LFU sends condolences to Shizue Sano, whose father, Tetsushi Sano, passed away on March 7, 2013 after a rather short battle with cancer. He had just turned eighty years old on February 14, Valentines Day. A graduate of Nagoya University’s Electronics Science Department, he worked for the CBC, Japan’s first private broadcasting company. His favorite job in the company was sound recording, and he encouraged and supported Shizue’s pursuit of music throughout his life.
• The LFU sends condolences to Kirsi Perttuli, whose mother, Saimi Perttuli, passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 6, 2013. She was 88 years old.