President of Philadelphia’s University of the Arts Resigns After School’s Sudden Closure

The president of Philadelphia’s 148-year-old University of the Arts resigned as the school prepared to wind down operations ahead of its sudden closure.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Kerry Walk left her post as president on Tuesday, just days before the university is set to shutter, leaving the future of many current students uncertain.

Walk had only become president of UArts in April of last year. A UArts spokesperson did not respond to ARTnews’s request for comment on the Inquirer report.

Plans to close UArts were announced last Friday after the school lost accreditation. The university blamed its “weakened” financial state and said it had no option other than to close.

“This sudden resignation, announced via the media, continues the pattern of disregard and cruelty to which the University of Arts has subjected employees and students,” the United Academics of Philadelphia, a union that includes UArts teachers, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The union also said that the president and the board had “behaved disgracefully and irresponsibly” after calling off a town hall about the closure intended for students and faculty.

While it remains unclear what will happen to current UArts sutdents, at least three local schools—Temple University, Drexel University, and Moore College of Art and Design—have said they will bring them on.