In advance of a rally this afternoon in support of nonretained members of the fine arts faculty at Parsons The New School for Design, the school yesterday issued a press release featuring a statement from provost Tim Marshall responding to the situation.

In early April, reports broke, including on ARTINFO, alleging that roughly one-third of the school’s fine arts adjunct faculty had been abruptly fired or, as is more accurate for adjuncts, not rehired for the upcoming school year. Among the 12 affected instructors were “two grand-parented faculty members — a designation assigned by the ACT-UAW, which represents the faculty there, referring to adjunct teachers who have been at the school for 12 years prior to the signing of the 2005 union contract,” ARTINFO wrote at the time.

Almost immediately, the New School responded, claiming, among other things, that the adjuncts in question were not fired, but rather either not retained or offered courses elsewhere in the university. In addition, Sven Travis, dean of the School of Art, Media and Technology, offered a statement the following: “No cuts are being made to the number of faculty in the Fine Arts programs at Parsons; in fact, the faculty body is growing.”

But the controversy lived on, and a few days later, on April 8, Marshall, Travis, and Lydia Matthews, the dean of academic programs, addressed a letter “to the Parsons community.” Due to curricular and staffing changes, they argued, “the teaching needs for 2009–10 have changed.”

They then attempted to put these changes into context: “As a result, six adjunct faculty members will not have the teaching assignments they had expected.”

The situation did not die down, and there have been allegations that Parsons is covering up the extent of the downsizing by lumping the printmaking faculty in with the fine arts staff.

Today’s rally in support of the Parsons art faculty — planned for noon at the school’s W. 12th Street entrance — has been organized by ACT-UAW Local 7902.

Yesterday, the New School issued a press release, in which Marshall said the controversy was primarily the result of poor communication. “Our failure to consult and communicate adequately as we strive to broaden our Fine Arts program is simply that: a lack of communication and participation. I am committed to improving the former and working to create the conditions to enable the latter,” he wrote.

“All annual faculty who were not assigned teaching in the Fine Arts program due to the curricular changes will be offered alternate teaching assignments appropriate [to] their expertise,” he continued.

“In addition, we will make every effort to offer appropriate teaching assignments to non-annual [i.e., adjunct] faculty. This intention was not made clear in the original memo that was sent out, which followed a more standardized protocol. We should have personally engaged the faculty about these pending changes. I want to offer my sincere apologies for these shortcomings and the discord it has caused.”