Watkins Students Mount Protest Exhibition About Belmont Merger

Saturday night, the monthly Wedgewood-Houston art crawl became a site of dissent — Watkins College of Art, Design and Film students mounted an art exhibition in protest of Watkins’ merger with Belmont University. Outside The Packing Plant on Hagan Street, students parked a Budget moving truck covered with signage. The exhibition, called In Good Faith: How Not to Save an Art School, was created by an anonymous group of students calling themselves The Defenders of the Watkins College of Art Community.

Inside, students set up a television on the back wall of the van that plays footage from a dramatic week. Clips play from Tuesday’s press conference, where Watkins president J. Kline and Belmont president Bob Fisher announce the college’s merger. Here, Kline appears happy and at ease. The footage is cut with clips from Wednesday’s emotional meeting between Kline, Watkins students and Belmont provost Thomas Burns. These clips show an embattled Kline, admitting fault and defending his decision while students call for his removal. See the video below.

On the interior walls of the van, students hung photographs of Watkins classrooms and studios along with large signs. One is labeled “How to Save an Art School,” and lists requirements like: “Be an integral part of your artistic community,” and “Build a foundation of honest and clear communication.” Another sign reads “How Not to Save an Art School,” and takes aim at Kline with statements like: “Don’t consult faculty and staff; hire outside consultants,” and “Fake cry when confronted with your failures.” 

Watkins senior Christie Gaskill wore a gray wig, glasses and suit in imitation of Kline. Her multidisciplinary work investigates women's roles in religion. “I’m really concerned about my religious rights,” says Gaskill. “When you become part of an institution, I know that you have to abide by their rules and regulations. But I was bought by Belmont. I don’t have a choice to go anywhere else. I’m past my credit hours to where I can transfer, so I’m literally forced to go or I have to drop out of school.” 

Gaskill is also concerned about the Watkins faculty members. Belmont provost Thomas Burns said on Wednesday: “We do not hire people who are not Christian. So the ones who are not Christian will not be eligible to work at Belmont. That’s just part of who we are.”

“Our teachers were not considered in this process,” says Gaskill. “Ethically, I would have a really hard time going there knowing what has happened. I would feel like a traitor. It doesn’t feel very Christian to let this happen.” 

A flier available in the truck calls upon Fisher to make a public statement in support of LGBTQ rights “at his university and everywhere.”  The flier also calls on Belmont to “affirm its support of artistic freedom” and “guarantee that student work will never be censored.”

Another demand reads: “We call on the Watkins Board of Directors to explain why they allowed the president of Watkins to hire his girlfriend (now his wife) as director of admissions despite her lack of experience in that area and when the college enrollment was declining.” 

It continues: “We call on Belmont University to remove the president of Watkins from his role as a special consultant in the transition.” 

Update, 2/2/20: The New York Times now reports: "Facing a backlash and the potential exodus of faculty, J. Kline, the president of Watkins, sent an email to employees on Saturday announcing an abrupt shift in policy. Mr. Kline wrote that non-Christian faculty and staff members would, in fact, be considered for employment at Belmont."