What it feels like … to have your (independent filmmaking) major cut
Emily Lewis shares her reaction to her major being cut.
By Sara Dvorak | Reporter
Emily Lewis lounges in one of the two black leather chairs directly next to the entrance of the independent filmmaking and media production lobby. An email from Jay Barnes addressing recent faculty and academic cuts appears on her phone at 2:24 p.m. Lewis takes a deep breath while she taps her password into her phone. She has a feeling her major is on the chopping block. The pre acceptance of what’s to come did not make the shuddering blow hurt any less.
The place she spends 90 percent of her time on campus no longer feels like home.
She shrinks further into her leather chair and suddenly Emily is hit with an unrelenting wave of anger. Her mind acts like a seesaw going back and forth between laughing and feeling resentment towards the school that has taken a great deal of her money.
“It made me feel like I didn’t matter,” Lewis said.
Just a few days earlier, the program launched its first podcast studio. The major had been expanding with more students declaring it as their major this year and showing interest than any before.
“It’s hard imagining giving back to Bethel.” — Emily Lewis, independent filmmaking student
To Lewis, independent filmmaking is “giving people a way to tell a story that is relevant right now.”
“It’s hard imagining giving back to Bethel,” Lewis said when thinking about how Bethel took away the support it once gave her.
