In a bid to cut costs, Hamline University Acting/Interim President Dr. Kathleen Murray and Interim Provost Dr. Andy Rundquist announced Thursday, Feb. 27 that they would make the recommendation to the Hamline University Board of Trustees to sunset, or intentionally phase out, the 26-year MFA program. Dr. Rundquist was appointed as the Interim Provost in July of 2021. Dr. Kathleen Murray is Hamline’s 21st president and took office in January 2024.
The proposal also eliminates the Creative Writing Programs’ (CWP) Programs Coordinator, effective July 1, 2025. CWP includes both Hamline’s graduate and undergraduate writing programs.
Before the CWP can be fully eliminated, however, Murray and Rundquist would need faculty approval. Without a coordinator, the CWP can’t operate, which faculty say would shutter the program even without the necessary approval.
Meghan Maloney-Vinz, Executive/Managing Editor of the Water~Stone Review, says that she has had to weather the threat of cuts to her position as Programs Coordinator throughout her 18-year tenure.
“What has saved me every time is that a bigger fire starts somewhere else, and they forget about me. And I’m just left up to my own devices, so I keep on going,” Maloney-Vinz said. “This was the year where we were the fire.”
Substantial staff support is necessary to continue CWP’s far-reaching community events, and Maloney-Vinz organizes these efforts, handles all in and out-of-house communications for the MFA and BFA programs and oversees the weekly newsletter for the Arts, Media and Culture (AMC) unit at Hamline. She is also the first point of contact for contingent/adjunct faculty of the CWP department.
“I have been around the [CWP] building for over 20 years. I’m sort of the archivist and the institutional memory of this place,” Maloney-Vinz said.
Hamline has been eliminating staff positions for the past decade, leading to loss of institutional memory and institutional readiness. Other High Impact Practices (HIPs) that have been eliminated include Model UN, Mock Trial and massive cuts to the Global Engagement Center.
What happens when a coordinator leaves?
Maloney-Vinz is also the Editor-in-Chief of “Water~Stone Review,” a nationally recognized journal published annually by the MFA program, and the undergraduate journal “Runestone.” Along with her position, Water~Stone Review will be wholly defunded, effective July, despite carrying a 28-year-long history of literary excellence.
“It’s hard to find a writer, especially in the Twin Cities community, who hasn’t heard of or wanted to be published in ‘Water~Stone Review,’” Maloney-Vinz said. “It’s the pinnacle of our community.”
For Mariah Sletten, a new MFA student at Hamline, Water~Stone Review was a powerful incentive for enrollment in the program.
“If they take “Water~Stone” away, they won’t be fulfilling a promise that was made when I joined the program,” Sletten said. “Being able to venture out into the world will have its impact as I gain new experiences that I wouldn’t have been brave enough to have otherwise. [The MFA Program] is a holistic experience.”
Interim Provost Dr. Rundquist could not comment by press time.
The Administration’s responses.
An automated email response to those who wrote to Interim Provost Dr. Rundquist in favor of the MFA program emphasized that no decision on its future had been made.
However, Richard Pelster-Wiebe, the Director of CWP at Hamline, reiterates that terminating Maloney-Vinz’s instrumental position is effectively killing the MFA program, no matter if the shared governance practices at Hamline are followed.
“We may or may not win the bureaucratic process of saving the MFA, but all of it will have been moot if [Maloney-Vinz] is not given her position back,” Richard Pelster-Wiebe said. “We need her to continue the program, or we need her to sunset the program. Unfortunately, [her position] is not something that we can advocate for through these processes.”
Murray and Rundquist have not attended a CWP-sponsored event, contends Richard Pelster-Wiebe and Angela Pelster-Wiebe, a CWP professor at Hamline.
“Every event that we do, the attendance is incredible; it’s having a cultural impact,” Richard Pelster-Wiebe said. “All this time, looking back and looking forward, is being destroyed by two interim leaders in the last days of their leadership. It does not have to happen this way.”
Looking to the future — with uncertainty.
This coming July, Dr. Mayme Hostetter and Dr. Wesley Kisting will step into their roles as Hamline’s 22nd president and as the newest provost, respectively.
Richard Pelster-Wiebe says that the MFA program stands out for its multi-genre approach to creative writing and is ultimately rooted in the vibrant Twin Cities community.
“What is unequivocally unique about our program is the way in which we are community-centered,” Richard Pelster-Wiebe said. “The life of a writer is not just solitary; it’s also about living as an activist, an advocate, and a community member. And you will not find that in other programs.”
Richard Pelster-Wiebe also says that the collision between Hamline undergraduate and graduate students through CWP remains an irrevocable asset.
“If that recruiting tool is gone, we’re going to see BFA enrollment decline as well. The people to blame for that will be our interim leaders,” Richard Pelster-Wiebe said.
Angela Pelster-Wiebe says that in less than two years, the MFA program has doubled its incoming students, and there is reason to believe that that positive direction will continue.
“We’ve come back with this renewed desire,” said Angela Pelster-Wiebe. “Every university has to ask: are they willing to invest in the arts in order to give back to the community? And these administrators are saying, no, they’re not willing to give back to the community in this way.”
The recommendation to sunset the MFA program is yet another addition to the long list of program cuts that undermine Hamline’s distinctiveness, including Mock Trial and the Model United Nations.
“Now, more than ever, is a time to support a program that is providing a place of refuge for our students in the community,” said Richard Pelster-Wiebe. “[The MFA program] is trying to speak articulately, creatively, and persuasively about how to challenge the huge issues that our world’s facing right now.”
Hamline’s Creative Writing Programs urges anyone who strongly supports the MFA program to write their concerns to the Acting/Interim President, Interim Provost and Board of Trustees.
