Fairmont State students face changes after degree cuts

Apr. 18—FAIRMONT — May will mark a year since Fairmont State chose to shelf its theatre and music degree programs.

Any students who could not finish their degrees by spring semester 2021 had to either change majors or find a new school to continue their studies. Four professors are also losing their positions over the cut.

Some theatre and music majors were fortunate enough to wrap up their degrees before the deadline, but many were not.

Colton Daft is currently a theatre education major in his second year at Fairmont State. After this semester, he's changing his major to social studies education.

"Really, I was just broken, I felt like I was just lost," said Daft. "I didn't know what my plan of action was or what was in my future."

Daft was wrapping up his first semester in the theatre program at Fairmont State when he got the news his degree was being eliminated.

"The first few weeks, it was just anger. I was mad at the school, I was mad they were treating us like that, they weren't giving us answers," Daft said. "By this semester, it turned into a gave-up, hopeless feeling."

Daft made the choice to stick with Fairmont State's education program and just change his focus from theatre to social studies.

"This year, I focused a lot on theatre, taking all the theatre classes I can," Daft said. "Even though I'm changing to social studies, with as many theatre credits as I have, hopefully I'll still qualify to teach theatre someday."

Daft says theatre has been his passion for the last seven years and he isn't giving up on it that easily — not his passion or his school.

"I feel like deep down I'll always have the feeling that I wasn't treated fairly," said Daft. "But it's still my school, I still have pride for my school."

Even though Daft loves Fairmont State, he almost transferred to West Liberty University and was even accepted to their theatre program.

"I was planning to move up there, but over the summer, I realized it was quite a big up-root," said Daft. "I did end up making the decision to stay, but if things don't work out I could still go to West Liberty."

While Daft decided not to transfer, others, like Greyson Grimmett, did. Grimmett is wrapping up his first year as a student in West Liberty's theatre program.

"It didn't feel real, we had just finished 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' and we had such a positive response," said Grimmett. "After the denial left, I got real angry."

And Grimmett's is still angry at the Fairmont State board of governors.

"The people that made the decision, I mean I'm pissed at them," said Grimmett. "I was basically forced to move two hours away from my family and all my friends. I had to completely start over and that's all their fault."

The strain of the transition isn't just mental, it's also monetary. Many of Grimmett's credits didn't transfer to WLU and he and his family are just out that money.

"I originally came to Fairmont because of the affordability, and West Liberty is about $1- or $2,000 more expensive per year," said Grimmett. "I didn't have any scholarships at Fairmont, so I'm just out the money of the classes that didn't transfer."

But the biggest struggle, according to Grimmett, was the clerical transfer. According to him, the Fairmont State administration made transferring difficult.

"They said, 'Why don't you change your major to criminal justice or something?'" said Grimmett. "Not only did they make it excruciatingly difficult to transfer, but they were kind of jerks about me wanting to transfer from a school that didn't even want me there."

Grimmett says he struggled to get a transcript from Fairmont State, and barely made the deadline to get enrolled at West Liberty in time.

"As much as I wanted to stay at Fairmont and stay with my friends, I wasn't risking doing something I love just to stay at a school that, like I said, didn't want me there," said Grimmett. "There wasn't a moment when I thought, 'I could just do something else,' because I don't want to do anything else."

Grimmett shares that sentiment with another soon-to-be-former falcon. Morgan Donaldson, a second year theatre education major, is transferring to Shepherd University to finish out her degree as a theatre major.

"The theatre education program was the only reason I chose Fairmont [State]," said Donaldson. "So when I found out they ended it, I couldn't believe it."

At the start, Donaldson was on the fence about sticking to Fairmont State or transferring. However, like Grimmett, she doesn't want to compromise doing what she loves to stay at a school that, as she sees it, doesn't value her career path.

"I went back and forth for a while with staying at Fairmont and pursuing a different career," said Donaldson. "But then I realized I didn't want to compromise my dream for a place."

After much deliberation and thought, she decided to come back to where she grew up and go to Shepherd, but it wasn't her first choice.

"I finally settled on Shepherd, which is somewhere I didn't really want to go to, and I still kind of don't want to go to," said Donaldson. "It's kind of like a second high school for me. Everyone from my high school goes there.

"Fairmont was right in that sweet spot. It's far enough away where I could still go home on the weekends but still feel independent."

These three students in three different situations all agree that the thing they'll miss the most about Fairmont State theatre is the professors, two of whom are losing their jobs at the end of this semester.

"[The professors] are always so willing to work with you and help you and they're so easy to talk to and get along with," said Donaldson.

"They all felt like more than professors to me — they felt like family." said Grimmett. "Even after leaving Fairmont, my love for them has not gone away and I'll always hold them in my heart."

Many students involved in the Fairmont State theatre department have joined an organization called Falcons for the Arts to oppose the elimination of the music and theatre degree programs.

Falcons for the Arts entered into a lawsuit against Fairmont State in the summer of 2020, claiming the university violated open meeting laws and was not adequately transparent with the dealings leading up to its decision to end the programs.

The plaintiffs in case are in the process of gathering evidence and there is no court date set at this time.

University officials claimed it cost $917,000 a year to run the two programs, which they said lost money each year.

Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.