(Image: Cornish College of the Arts)
Seattle University will take over the Cornish College of the Arts in a agreement announced Thursday.
“Seattle University joining forces with Cornish will combine two storied Seattle institutions of higher learning into one,” Seattle U president Eduardo Peñalver said in a statement. “It will create incredible new opportunities for our students to expand their educational horizons and for faculty to pursue innovative interdisciplinary collaborations. This is definitely a case of ‘one plus one equals three.’”
The “modern, progressive, and global Jesuit Catholic university” on the southern edge of Capitol Hill says it is working on a final deal to acquire the college as it undertakes “a thorough due diligence review of Cornish’s finances, holdings and assets, operations, compliance and legal obligations.”
The takeover comes as Cornish officials have said enrollment at the arts college has continued to fade, falling to just under 500 students. Last month, CHS reported on Cornish’s sale of its final physical connection to Capitol Hill as it agreed to sell the historic Kerry Hall studio and performance space to Seattle Theater Group for $6 million.
The addition of Cornish to the Seattle U family won’t change the direction of the arts college’s hopes for growth in South Lake Union. The schools said Thursday the plan is “continuing to educate students at its South Lake Union campus.”
The Seattle U growth comes five years after Eduardo Peñalver took over as president of the university, replacing Father Stephen Sundborg at the private Jesuit school serving around 8,000 students from its campus on the south end of Capitol Hill. As it prepares to expand to South Lake Union, the university’s growth along 12th Ave continues.
(Image: Seattle University)
In 2021, the Jim and Janet Sinegal Center for Science and Innovation, a five-story, 111,000-square-foot science and tech building designed as the school’s new main entrance, opened, rising above 12th Ave.
By 2028, the school has planned to complete a 10-year plan of development expanding its boundaries by 2.4 acres with 2 million square feet added to the campus.
The Cornish addition also comes as Seattle U is preparing to grow its arts programs and build a new museum on campus.
CHS reported earlier this year on the massive donation powering the new arts focus.
A 12th Ave Seattle University parking lot could become a new art museum and the center of the school’s art holdings as property developer Dick Hedreen announced he was gifting his family’s 200-piece, $300 million collection of paintings, pottery, photography, etchings, and sculptures to the school.
The donation, the largest gift of art to any university in the United States, included $25 million in funding earmarked to begin development of the Seattle University Museum of Art, “a teaching museum that will showcase centuries of art history and be a true learning extension of the classroom,” Seattle U said.
The $25 million “seed funding” is only be a portion of the museum’s total cost as Seattle U will mount a capital campaign to support the entirety of the project.
Hedreen, who made a fortune buying, selling, and developing property in the city, will also stand to benefit from tax breaks tied to the massive donation.
As for Cornish students, the school will be transitioning from its more-than-100-year history as an independents arts school to become part of a much larger Jesuit campus “infused with Catholic traditions.”
The schools said Thursday they hope to begin fully combining the institutions by May 2025 in a “transition period” during which Cornish will be “controlled by Seattle University but retain its separate degree-granting authority, accreditation and federal student aid participation.”
“At the end of the transition period, and subject to further accreditor and regulatory agency approvals, the institutions will fully combine and Cornish would become the Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University,” the schools said.
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“infused with Catholic traditions.” That’s a worrying quote for the college where John Cage taught for a while.
I wonder what percentage of that art and artifact collection the modern activist contingent that SU has encouraged will find the item ‘problematic’ in some way – either culturally inappropriate or stolen or offensive or you name it. They also will make inviting targets for activists to deface if / when SU donates to the wrong country or cause.
At least Cornish is going to survive now. It’s too bad it won’t still be on Capitol Hill in their old buildings. North Capitol Hill benefitted from Cornish students being here.
I encourage you to get out of the fantasy world in your head and interact with some students from Seattle U, you may find the them less scary than you imagined…
oh my god, give it a rest. this what-if worrymongering is tiresome and unproductive.
Care to share?
Students living around the Broadway and Roy area added customers to businesses on this end of Broadway. They used to keep at least one bistro full it was probably like their study lounge on some days. Restaurants too.
Deleting those students just means a less busy neighborhood, always not a good thing. We lost Cornish students and gained LIHI and DESC buildings. I want a recount do-over.
The world inside your head sounds terrible… Maybe do less speculating and more time interacting with people.
The north end of Broadway has seen a bunch of turnover from smaller shops and has seen coffee shops that would have been ideal for students studying transition to more upscale places (e.g. French Guys, Rapport) to match what is already in the area. I’m not sure a single building was making the impact you think it did.
Matt why are you always so cranky?
$300 Million in art donated, plus $25M in “seed funding” for what will be fricking jewel of a museum. This, SAM and the Burke Museum all within a mile, for one of the best art walks in the USA. This is 100% great news, Seattle is getting better all the time.
The Burke is a little further away, but you might mean the Frye Museum? The Frye is a great art museum!
The Burke is more of a natural history museum too.. there is some art, but there’s more dinosaur bones. Crow must mean the Frye. Shouldn’t forget SAAM over at Volunteer Park.. that might be more than a mile, but it’s worth the walk.