Confusion continues to surround the now-defunct documentary storymaking minor in the months following its shuttering last fall. Though the closure resulted from a loss of regional-level support, Lafayette College administration has come under fire nonetheless.
The minor — established in 2016 as a collaborative program between Lafayette College, Lehigh University and Muhlenberg College — operated out of the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges, a consortium of local universities known as LVAIC.
LVAIC informed Katherine Groo, Lafayette’s director of the arts, that the consortium had withdrawn support for the minor in the fall, a result of Lehigh and Muhlenberg no longer offering courses in the program.
“It should have been closed years ago,” Groo said, noting that faculty approved the minor explicitly as a cross-college partnership.
“We didn’t close it, and we’re now in a position where we really are obligated to close it,” she added.
A spokesman for LVAIC cited “the passing of a key faculty member without a replacement, transportation challenges for students, and declining interest” in an email, adding that “participating Provosts” elected to close the program.
Lafayette Provost Laura McGrane deferred comment to Associate Provost Markus Dubischar; Muhlenberg Provost Laura Furge declined to comment, citing traveling commitments.
“If the doc minor was continued, it would be continuing substantively different from what was approved,” Dubischar said in a post-meeting interview. “What was approved was the consortium minor, and we no longer have the consortium framework.”
Only three Lafayette students received the minor in its 10-year existence, according to Groo.
A petition, which gathered more than 250 student, faculty and alumni signatures this month, called on college President Nicole Hurd, McGrane and Dean of Faculty Lauren Anderson to reinstate the minor.
The petition’s authors, Parth Mahajan ‘27 and Adam Fox ‘27, said they drafted the petition after feeling confused by the situation. Both students had hoped to pursue the documentary storymaking minor but were thwarted by its sunset in the fall.
Mahajan, Fox and a gaggle of fellow petitioners walked out of a Wednesday meeting organized by college administrators meant to address the petition’s concerns. The group cited a lack of concrete answers about the minor’s termination.
“We do not feel like this is an open response to the concerns we have brought up within the petition,” Mahajan said at the meeting.
Both Lehigh and Muhlenberg stopped offering required courses in 2020, with the latter pulling out shortly after. Lehigh continued to offer the minor, though its completion depended upon Lafayette-provided courses.
“We relied on Lafayette,” said Lehigh University German professor Vera Stegmann, the director of Lehigh’s Film and Documentary Studies program. With the loss of LVAIC and Lafayette support, Stegmann said that Lehigh would likely stop offering the minor.
“It just makes me sad,” Stegmann said. “I think it’s becoming more definitive.”
The minor had three required courses: a 100-level introductory course, a 200-level intermediate course and a 300-level capstone course. The courses, none of which were offered this semester, will be absorbed as Film and Media Studies electives in the fall.
McKenna Graf ‘26, who achieved the documentary storymaking minor before the program was paused, said the minor contributed to her personal growth.
“I would have struggled a lot if I did not have access to that kind of minor,” Graf said.
Benjamin White ‘27 and Julia Flagg ‘29 contributed reporting.
