For as long we continue to receive them, Free Cooper Union will be publishing letters from applicants, accepted students, and families who have said “No” to Cooper Union as a direct result of the board’s decision to destroy the college’s mission of providing free education to all admitted students. If you’ve got a story to share, email us at: cooperuniosos@gmail.com.
Today’s letter comes from School of Art graduate Amy Davis (BFA ‘78), on her son’s decision to turn down Cooper Union in 2012, just as the facts about the college’s financial scandal were beginning to surface. Not only is Cooper’s Admissions department trying to downplay the negative impact of tuition on the incoming class of 2014, but they refuse to acknowledge that the board’s mismanagement has been deterring qualified applicants and accepted students for years:
May 7, 2014
Dear Free Cooper friends,
My husband Bob Cronan and I are graduates of the School of Art (‘78, ‘79). Our son was accepted to Cooper in the fall of 2012. The school assured its applicants for the Class of 2016 that the free-tuition policy would be in place for their entire school career.
However, our son chose to go to another school (Washington U. in St. Louis). Fortunately, he received a full-tuition scholarship from their Sam Fox School of Art. He was sincerely interested in Cooper, but all of the cutbacks, turmoil and poor leadership made it a fairly easy choice to head to St. Louis and not Astor Place. For these reasons, I believe he would have rejected Cooper even if it had been the less costly option. It pained us, as proud Cooper grads, but we agreed with his choice. It was hard to see how Cooper’s financial crisis — even before the devastating and unwise decision to charge tuition — would not have a deeply negative impact on the quality of education he received.
Furthermore, we felt then that if the school were to charge tuition down the road, it would cease to be the school we admired and loved. Its reputation would inevitably decline. We believe free tuition is at the core of the school’s character. This is what attracts the finest students and professors. Having seen the shameful way the administration has conducted itself, we feel more strongly now that a downward spiral is inevitable. We wish this weren’t so, but the administration has never taken responsibility for its gross mismanagement. This crisis was preventable, up to the very last ignominious vote. Cooper’s president is deluded; his recent upbeat letter in the New York Times about the current pool of applicants was not convincing to us.
Instead of a school that truly attracts the best of the best, it is now merely a “bargain-priced” school. Won’t most applicants wonder if it’s one of those “you get what you pay for” deals? The students and alumni who are continuing the uphill battle to reverse course have our deepest admiration. I feel terrible writing this because it is ultimately not supportive of your efforts to keep the school strong and free. However, we know you seek the truth, and this is how we perceive this institution today.
Sadly,
Amy Davis (BFA, ‘78)