SCAD has been expanding its territory like a stray cat marking its ‘hoods. After its expansion to Atlanta at the end of 2004, I guess the presence is too strong to ignore for another local art college. Today, Atlanta College of Art announced that its board of directors have been bought out by SCAD proposed to marry its operations as part of SCAD. Ironically, ACA is celebrating its 100th birthday since its founding in 1905.
What I’d like to really see is assimilation of Ringling School of Art and Design. The staff and faculty of that school’s bad-mouthing SCAD for a long time. When I worked at SCAD admissions years ago, parents would come to me and tell me horror stories they heard from Ringling admissions staff. I would be like, WTF. But most parents were wise enough not to listen to the rumors they were spreading and decided to see SCAD for themselves. And for most of them, it turned out to be the best decision. SCAD has its own share of problems (which can easily be found on several online forums). But to be so unprofessionally spoken about was just stupid on Ringling’s part. Hopefully someday SCAD will swallow them up “like a box of chocolates”, as Forrest Gump would put it (incidentally, the movie was filmed in Savannah).
Another interesting thing also happened a few days ago. An ex-professor of SCAD, Philippe Houeix, operated a site called scad.info (Google cache). He basically made public some information he thought SCAD was doing wrong and shared it through the site. His detailed and documented information prompted a flood of people, mostly ex-SCAD students and employees, to share their experience through the site as well. And of course, that didn’t sit well with SCAD’s chief. So lawsuits and threats were made against Mr. Houeix and the site. A few years later, Michael recently noticed that the site is now unavailable! And the “scad.info” domain name now belongs to an administrator we know is working for SCAD. It’s like WTF! Did SCAD buy out get to this guy too?
Not to be undermined, Mr. Houeix registered another domain name “scad-and-us.info” to continue documenting his affairs with the superpower of art colleges. Nothing much is there yet (probably restraining orders). But he’s not known to be quiet. Expect something to be up soon. SCAD probably got an injunction to take the sites down since they hurt SCAD’s business. And if he did get paid off, we’ll never see the information again. Interestingly, it’s been said that SCAD has never lost a lawsuit in the State of Georgia. So the fight continues and so does the drama.
Michael commented that Mr. Houeix probably must have sold the site for a million bucks to SCAD. Considering how many potential students SCAD could lose if they found out about this site, Michael thinks it’s worth at least that much to shut him up for a million. Jokingly, I said maybe I’d get a “scadsucks.com” going and sell it back to SCAD. But guess what… they got THAT, and .net and .info. But I like SCAD, despite its issues. I am sure there are things students at MIT or Harvard don’t like about their schools. SCAD is the same. So kids, just use your common sense when choosing your school. Don’t be a dumb ass and only read one side of the story.
Thanks to Mike again… for his Trekky quote which made the title of this entry.
UPDATE 12.05.2005: It appears that scad-and-us.info now belongs to SCAD as well. Mr. Houeix must have been totally bought out! The story just keeps getting more and more interesting. Now I really want to know what happened. But knowing SCAD (and most of Corporate America, for that matter), they probably made him sign a non-discloure agreement to gag him. The interesting thing is, just two days ago, the index page on scad-and-us.info was still “under construction”… God damn it, I want to know what’s going on!
Also, some sites that have Mr. Houeix’s name mentioned regarding his involvement with the scandal have all disappeared (“Page Not Found” errors)… or at least the English ones I could find. Amazing.
DISCLOSURE: I happen to like SCAD a lot: its staff, faculty members, facilities and “some” administrators. I received a BFA and a MFA, both from SCAD, and don’t regret my time (and money) spent in Savannah and SCAD. Like I said, you need to do your own due diligence and decide what you like/don’t like. To talk to as many people as you can (current, ex, staff, students… whatever) and arrive at an educated conclusion yourself. That is, if you value your education to the extend that this kind of research matters to you. Like I said, EVERY FREAKING school is going to have its issues. Decide what’s important to you and move on. Search and read my other opinions about SCAD on this blog.