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University of the Arts, the Philadelphia institution that announced its sudden closure late Friday, on Monday canceled a planned virtual “town hall” discussion just minutes before it was supposed to start, saying its officials “cannot adequately answer your questions today.”
Leaders at the arts-focused nonprofit university said Friday that it would close within a week, an unusually short timeframe for such a drastic action. Its president, Kerry Walk, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that a “significant cash flow problem” came to her attention on May 14 and it “quickly became apparent that the problem was even bigger than originally thought” as the newspaper put it.
“We had unanticipated expenses we had to cover with cash,” she said. “At the same time, some of the deposits [including gifts, grants, and other revenue] we expected into that bank account were late and just didn’t come in.”
Students, employees and politicians have lambasted University of the Arts for its last-minute decision to close, and many hoped to get more answers at the town hall meeting scheduled for Monday.
But minutes before the scheduled 4 p.m. start of the discussion, the university sent an email saying it would not be held.
“Please share questions through this Google Form so that we may provide follow-up communications to address your concerns to the best of our ability,” the email said. “We will be adding information and answers to frequently asked questions on the UArts webpage within the next day.”
