A university news release listed four reasons Morris and Brugh were demoted.

In the years 2008 through 2010, only 1 out of 15 student attempts on the Praxis II Theatre exam achieved a passing score.  The Praxis II is the second test out of three potential teachers must take to become certified. The Praxis II is specialized for each subject and the theatre students would have been tested solely on theatre knowledge.

The other three reasons cited were the Russellville Fire Marshall's report stating the Techionery had fire and safety hazards, low enrollment in the program, and the program's average of only four graduates per year, a number which is below the State of Arkansas minimum for degree production.

Currently the speech degree with the theatre option is under academic review by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. The speech and theatre faculty and the Speech, Theatre, and Journalism department head have compiled a report that "lists the strengths of each option. The professors will take information and compile a report. It's not a loaded report. It's a document that the program makes itself for review," said Dr. H. Micheal Tarver, the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.

"I think some decisions were made based on what the self-study uncovered. It didn't need to necessarily wait for the external reviewers," Tarver said.

Each program has to be reviewed once every seven years by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. The ADHE makes a template for the programs to include in its self-study review. The self-study will include a "number of objectives, courses required, resources available for the program, technology resources for the students, and what faculty thinks needs to be improved," Tarver said.

The self-study report began the final draft on Monday. In mid-February, the report will be sent off to third-party reviewers. On March 30, the three third-party reviewers will visit Tech. "Usually, only two people do the review. We specifically requested three people so we have an official theatre person and two speech people. They don't come for free. Tech is paying for an extra reviewer so there will be someone who specializes in theatre to give advice," Tarver said.

"Time will be set aside in the schedule for them to meet with students, faculty, and the department head. It's up to them who they want to see, though," Tarver said. The reviewers also have the option to tour the Techionery and any other buildings on campus.

Dr. David Eshelman, an assistant professor of speech at Tech since 2006, will become the interim theatre director at Tech. He created and supervises the Arkansas Radio Theatre. Eshelman also writes plays and monodramas. As interim theatre director, he has the duty to oversee the Techionery's clean-up.

This is just the beginning of the process, Tarver said.

"Right now, we don't have a timeline. We're hoping the Techionery will be completed by September and used for the fall," Tarver said.

"The changes were about the theatre program, not about Morris or Brugh. We are interested on the program moving forward. The theatre majors need to acknowledge Morris and Brugh's contributions, but also to rally behind Dr. Eshelman. If all they're going to do is drive students away with negative comments, it's not going to help the program," Tarver said.

Even prior to the news of the demotions, some theatre students expressed dissatisfaction with Tech's administration. The university recently announced all theatre productions for the spring semester had been halted. The productions would have included "Twelfth Night," student directed one-acts, and one student-directed full-length play.

The theatre students had already designed the set, finished a majority of the costumes and lighting for "Twelfth Night." The play had been fully cast, and the students had finished one rehearsal.

"If you want to get into grad school or direct, you have to direct something here," said student technical director Tim Jarmon, a junior from Oark.

Nathan Freeman was planning on directing the last full-length play. Freeman, a recently graduated theater major from Dover, spent more than a year developing his own play, music narration and dance.

"It was going to be cool," Morris said.

Since all productions this semester were canceled, he lost his chance to perform that work, and all the work put into it produced no results. According to Morris, the play was an equivalent to his undergraduate thesis, and had it been successfully performed, it could have aided him in his journey to enter graduate school.

According to Morris, she was not given any advanced warning about the shows being cancelled. The press release announcing the cancellations appeared Jan. 11, two days before the beginning of the spring semester and one day after Morris was notified.

Nathan Vandeveer, a theatre major from Clarksville, said he was angered by productions being cancelled for this semester.

"They're not living up to their promises," said Vandeveer.

Vandeveer is 22, and he'd been out of high school for a couple years when he decided to enroll at Tech. He had three classes in the Techionery before it was closed. He described the situation as sudden adding, "I showed up one day, and there was a sign on the door saying that classes had been moved."

"Within a few weeks they took away the Techionery, and now they're cancelling productions," he said.

Safety concerns were cited in the press release as the main reasons the shows would not be sponsored this semester. The Techionery, where the theatre students had classes and workshops, was closed last semester due to fire hazards and safety concerns.

Since then, Dr. Robert Brown, Tech president, has been a target of anger from many supporters of the theatre program. Some claim that behind the scenes, this is an issue of censorship.

Brown said the issues are safety and academic concerns.

"We've set the poorest example possible," said Brown.

According to Brown, the building itself is sound, but it is what the theatre program did to the building that made it unsafe. Things done within the past two to three semesters made it an unsafe environment.

Discussing the fire code violations, Brown said, "Our faculty are supposed to be experts." He said the faculty do not want to accept responsibility for the problems created in the building.

Upon seeing the different sections of the building, Brown said he believed the theatre program wasn't doing the best job academically nor was it educating the students properly.

Brown said he fully supports the arts, and this wasn't a censorship attempt on his behalf.

"I just don't want to see someone get hurt," Brown said.

Professionals have come in and looked at the situation in the Techionery, and they told him it would cost about $138,000 for clean-up and restoration. Last week's press release noted that the needed funds would be provided by the university.

Brown also said the situation required patience on behalf of everyone involved.

"It can't be straightened out in the a day, a week, or a month," he said.

Questions have been raised about the Tech museum because it is also housed in the Techionery. Brown said he was told by the fire marshall that as long as nobody was in the Techionery using or moving equipment, the fire risk was minimal. However, if students were allowed back into the building to start working again, the fire risk would increase.

Among Tech alumni who are angry about the theatre situation is Eric Gamble, a local theatre teacher and graduate of Tech's theatre program.

"Brown sees himself as the demigod of Russellville and Tech. We are writing the governor to show him that he is still lower on the totem pole of people who care," Gamble said.

Talking about his former professors, Gamble said, "If you do your fact checking, at least six forensics and debate or theatre people in [Arkansas] high schools have come from Tech, and not one of us will have a negative thing to say about Ardith or Kate. And we do so well because they showed us how to work with so little because that's all we have ever been given."

Morris said that she had been asking for more storage space and help for years, but Brown said, "At no time have they asked me for equipment."

While Freedom of Information Act requests from some media outlets revealed certain documents and memorandums where both Morris and Brugh requested more space, a full-time shop foreman, shelves for storage and other help, Tarver identified some of those documents as reports that he requires his program directors to turn in to him every month.

Because those documents were director's reports, Tarver said neither Brown, nor Dr. John Watson, vice president of academic affairs, would have seen those reports.

Tarver said the equipment requests wouldn't have gone to Brown either. Equipment has been purchased in the past, but were approved at Tarver's level of authority.

Those who ask Brown for answers on this situation may be asking the wrong person because, according to Tarver, the president of the university normally doesn't deal with individual programs on a daily basis.

"It's just not what the president of a university does," Tarver said. "The theatre program is a very small part of the overall program."

The Techionery was closed a month before the opening of "Candide," last semester's production, and before the students could build a set for the play. The Arkansas Tech Career Center, located near the Russellville High School, allowed the theatre students to use its equipment to build their sets with some restrictions.

"Last semester, very few students could actually build the set," said Jarmon. "The facility we were at could only hold a small number of students at one time. If we had more students, we would have needed another supervisor. It would have been counter-productive."

Even with limited space and people, the theatre students were able to work around the restrictions and performed "Candide" with no major problems. Jarmon said since he has been a student at Tech, there have not been any serious injuries while working on productions.

The technical director of theatre at Russellville High School offered for the theatre students to use the high school's facilities. The facility would enable the students to perform "Twelfth Night."

"I could do it with the time I have left, but it will take the university saying yes," said Morris.

Tarver said there are many reasons why the university has not agreed to allow students to use the high school's facilities.

He said the technical director may have invited Tech's students and the high school principal may have approved, but the school board would also have to give its approval. Bureaucracy and protocol are the reasons why the university has not yet approved the usage of the high school's facility.

"Until these reviews are done, I just want students to be patient," Tarver said.

After the reviewers finish their assessment of the programs, they will send recommendations to Tech on how to improve the programs. The productions are put on hold for this semester so the reviewers can recommend the best options for the theatre program.

"The plans are that in the fall, the productions start back up. Nothing has been said that productions will stop in the fall or any other semester," Tarver said.

"In the degree plan, it doesn't say anywhere that theatre students have to be in a production to graduate," Tarver said.

"Look at the catalog, most non-general education courses are not offered every semester," Tarver said.

Even though the theatre students are not able to make sets and act with an audience, they are doing one-act plays in a classroom setting. An acting practicum class is also using the Witherspoon Auditorium. However, some students say they are at a disadvantage this semester.

"The biggest problem with all of this is doing theatre is a skill. We can't learn everything in a classroom setting, like skills that have to be learned hands-on," said Jarmon.

Jarmon is one of several theatre students who had an internship opportunity. His internship was at an opera house in New Jersey. He was able to get the internship thanks to his portfolio showing his experience with set design and technical aspects of theatre, he said.