St. Scholastica students are sharing their disappointment after the college announced Friday that it would be cutting its theatre programming.

Monday, students hosted an all day sit-in to express their disappointment for this decision. Even community members who had done theatre at the college visited the sit-in to voice their concerns. The sit-in also included a petition for visitors to sign.

The administration says the decision to cut theatre programming was due to financial pressures that go back to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Vice President of Student Affairs Ryan Sanefer says, “Since the COVID-19 pandemic, freshman classes entering traditional colleges for the College of St. Scholastica have been down. And over multiple years we have compounding issues where we have lower enrollments year after year. And that’s putting pressure on institutions financially.”

He also mentions that the financial decisions being made at St. Scholastica are not limited to just the theatre department. But at this time WDIO News does not now how other programs are being impacted.

He says, “Higher education is facing some serious headwinds nationally and the College of St. Scholastica is not immune to those challenges.”

The theatre program has been around since the 70’s, and for students like Ella Goette having a theatre program at a smaller school was a main draw for her to enroll.

She says, “The fact that St. Scholastica was a place where I was able to explore not only my major in English but also my passion for theatre and the performing arts on stage, that was something that was really important to me. And if there had not been a theatre program when I was first entering as a student, I don’t think I would’ve ended up coming here.”

A year ago the school dissolved the theatre minor and group the programming with the fine arts minor. But now there will be no theatrical programming going forward.