Sacramento State’s award-winning vocal jazz studies program has been spared from the chopping block. The program was expected to be cut at the end of this school year, but will continue for at least one more semester.

Though the program has won five Downbeat Magazine awards under the direction of Kerry Marsh and his wife Julia Dollison, the couple announced last fall that they would be leaving Sac State due to the uncertainty of their part-time positions at the university.

“My wife and I are not full-time teachers, so we don’t have the guarantee of a job from year to year,” Marsh said. “We already know that we will face pay cuts next year because we will be teaching fewer units. We thought we were on the verge of being cut, so we wanted to leave.”

When the couple announced they would be leaving the university, the department of music chair Ernie Hills and his budget committee thought it would be best to cut the vocal jazz program entirely.

“There are few people doing what (Marsh) is doing, and are at his level of skill. He is relatively irreplaceable,” Hills said. “Rather than offer a mediocre program, we thought it would be better to let it go.”

For students like sophomore vocal jazz studies major Allison Yassee, cutting the program would mean drastically altering their graduation plans.

“As a sophomore vocal jazz major, I couldn’t finish my degree,” Yassee said. “I would probably look at transferring to another school or moving back home to finish my general education.”

Months after their announcement, Marsh said he and his wife were feeling more optimistic about their positions, and decided to continue teaching the program for the fall 2010 semester.

“When we let our students know about our leaving, it was a very sad thing. At the time, it was unexpected and we felt awful for doing it,” Marsh said. “There were tears, but the students understood our situation. Our decision to stay at Sac State has given all of us a big relief.”

Although the program will continue for at least one more semester, it will be much smaller. The department will be cutting classes in the program and will no longer allow students to become vocal jazz majors.

Such changes to the program have caused problems for many students, like freshman vocal jazz major Grace Duncan.

Duncan said she realized how little she knew about jazz when she first started with one of Sac State’s two vocal jazz ensembles. However, her education and growth in vocal jazz was cut short.

“After I learned that the vocal jazz studies program would be cut, I disenrolled from the program and made plans to move back home to San Jose to go to a community college and finish my general education,” Duncan said.

When she learned that the program will be continuing, Duncan said it was too late for her to reapply for the program.

Courtney Anderson, junior vocal jazz studies major, said she is relieved that the program will continue, but is disturbed by some of the cuts being made.

“Many of the classes in the vocal jazz major are not being offered,” Anderson said. “We are missing out on a solid education and not getting much from the program.”

Anderson said she is particularly upset that Marsh’s vocal jazz and big band arranging classes will not be offered anymore because they are a key part of the major and alternative classes are not adequate substitutes.

“Not having access to those classes is like not teaching a nursing major how to put an IV in properly,” Anderson said.

Anthony Tavianini, sophomore music education major, said the downsizing of the vocal jazz major will cause complications because of scheduling.

“The current groups we have now are big enough to provide a vocal jazz experience to a variety of people, but with the cuts, fewer people will be able to join and won’t be able to see if vocal jazz is their passion,” Tavianini said.

Marsh said that although the trials faced by the department have created a roller coaster of emotions and conflicts for everyone, one good thing came out of the experience.

“This may be the best year ever because of all the dedication from the students, thinking that this year was their last chance to be in a Sac State vocal ensemble,” Marsh said. “Because we thought we’d have to cut the vocal jazz program, it reminded all of us to enjoy every minute of what we’re doing because it can go away at any time.”

Brittany Bottini and Lauren Greenwood can be reached at [email protected].