Plan to merge architecture college with fine arts opposed

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Architects from Lincoln and Omaha are speaking out against a plan to merge the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture into the university’s Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.

Several architects spoke against the plan during Friday’s university Board of Regents meeting, the Lincoln Journal Star reported (https://bit.ly/1z60sfu ). They said the move would negatively affect the quality of education provided at the college and UNL’s ability to produce graduates capable of getting jobs with top firms.

UNL College of Architecture graduates currently rank ninth among architecture graduates nationwide on licensing exam scores, said Patrick McDermott, a 1968 graduate of the college.

The cost savings of no longer having a dean of architecture would not be worth the risk of having less-skilled architecture graduates enter the workforce, he said.

“This decision may also traumatically impact the quality of student the university is able to attract in the future, as well as the quality of faculty that the university is able to retain,” McDermott said. “Nothing happens at a university without strong faculty.”

Dan Spiry, senior principal at BVH Architects in Omaha, said he’s disappointed by the perception among the university’s leadership that architecture is not a discipline distinct from other arts.

“I think architecture is a unique profession, and for that reason I think it’s best they stand alone and make themselves relevant and distinguish themselves among the community of the university,” Spiry said.

Merle Bachman, a member of the College of Architecture’s professional advisory council, also called the merger a bad idea.

“While both deal with aesthetics, there is no connection after that,” he said. “Architecture will lose a dean to a lesser position of a director who will be less experienced and less connected to the profession … that’s getting relegated to second tier.”

The merger was proposed last year by Chancellor Harvey Perlman. The new merged college would be named the Hixson-Lied College of the Arts and Architecture.

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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, https://www.journalstar.com