BRISTOL – A planned name change of the Roger Williams University School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation to the Cummings School of Architecture and Real Estate has drawn backlash from the college’s community.
The renaming, announced last week alongside a $20 million donation to the school from the Massachusetts-based Cummings Foundation, prompted more than 800 people to sign a petition against the change as of Tuesday afternoon.
The petition, started by a user called “John Doe,” says that while members of the School of Architecture, Art and Historical Preservation community appreciate the donation, dropping art and historic preservation from the school’s name in favor of real estate misrepresents the college’s values.
“The name adds ‘real estate,’ a business profession critiqued by architects,” the petition says. “As students, we have been taught the importance of affordable housing, sustainable development, urban planning and preservation. The words ‘real estate’ do not represent these important topics, principles, and the mission of our school.”
The petition also states that the renaming “discredits the historic preservation and art history core concentrations, minors, and majors, not to mention the dedicated staff who teach these courses.”
When reached for comment, the university provided a statement from Stephen White, dean of the School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation, who wrote that the school will “continue to honor and preserve our history and community while we chart new collaborative directions, not only within our school but in collaborations across Roger Williams University, with real estate being one of several new areas identified in the university’s strategic plan.”
The university did not respond to a question on whether it is open to reconsidering the name change based on the school community feedback.
Commenters on the petition, many of whom identify themselves as alumni, expressed sharp criticism of the name change.
Removing historic preservation and art from the school’s name “is nothing but an insult to past and future students of historic preservation at RWU,” said one commenter, Kurt Jergensen, a class of 2005 School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation alumnus and professional architecture historian in Massachusetts.
In addition to the change devaluing art and historic preservation, “there’s always been this adversarial relationship between historic preservation and real estate developers,” Jergensen told PBN.
Most developers “don’t understand historic preservation, and they come through and do whatever it is they want to do,” he added, “and it usually involves substantial alterations that change the fundamental character of historic properties, and outright demolition that is of course antithetical to historic preservation.”
Very few colleges offered a bachelor’s degree program in historic preservation when Jergensen enrolled in the program, he said, and still remains uncommon today. Jergensen and other critics of the renaming expressed concerns that removing the program from the school’s name will discourage potential students from enrolling.
According to the university’s website, the school’s historic preservation undergraduate program was the first of its kind in the U.S., and the School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation remains the only school in the country to offer majors in architecture, art and architectural history, historic preservation and visual art studies.
Last week, RWU President Ioannis N. Miaoulis called the university’s upcoming real estate program another “first in the nation” due to a “distinctive combination of architecture, real estate, preservation and planning bolstered by further integration with business, legal, construction and engineering expertise across the university.”
In January, the university announced that it would begin offering real estate academic programs, starting with graduate certificate programs this year, then undergraduate and graduate degree programs in 2023.
Bill Cummings, who leads the Cummings Foundation alongside his wife, Joyce, is the founder of Cummings Properties LLC real estate agency.
Some signees said the real estate program would be better suited for the university’s Mario J. Gabelli School of Business, with one commenter suggesting that, as a compromise, the university can rename the school in recognition of the Cummings Foundation donation without swapping art and historic preservation for real estate.
White said that real estate offerings will be “not exclusive to one school,” and that the upcoming program’s interdisciplinary approach will “foster better understandings at the intersections of the built and natural environments, to enable our graduates to be leaders in creating more-sustainable and equitable communities going forward.”
But some signees say the professions exist in opposition.
“No legitimate university considers the profession of real estate to be the same school of thought or practice as architecture,” another alumna, Katie Ray, said in a comment, adding that the real estate designation “sends a message that architecture is about money and not about the art of creating it.”
Jergensen, meanwhile, said that while real estate shouldn’t be in the school’s name, its inclusion in the School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation could help to cultivate a generation of real estate professionals who are more mindful of historic preservation values.
“I think there is a lot of merit in [Miaoulis’] message, in that these cross-disciplinary actions can and should be fostered,” Jergensen said, “so I think the move into the School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation could function well.”
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
