After business hours, the phone at the UW School of Art academic advising office goes unanswered. Within a few rings, a voice recording greets the caller:

“If you are calling from an out-of-state number, please be advised that we will be unable to return your call due to budget restraints,” it says.

The recent budget cuts are taking their toll on several of the schools on the UW campus. But they are not the only factors causing a few programs in the School of Art (SoA) to be placed in moratorium.

In addition to the SoA’s Metals program and Printmaking program, as of last year the Fibers program is now the third degree to be placed on hold due to a lack of faculty members teaching the courses required for graduation. The Metals program was placed in moratorium in 2006 after the retirement of Department Chair Mary Hu; the Printmaking program was placed on hold several years before.

Currently, there are only two faculty members in the Fibers program.

“There has been some shifting and changing,” said Christopher Ozubko, director of the SoA. “Students have to come in and get out in a timely manner. When faculty are on leave or take ill, we can’t offer those classes. There’s no one else to step in.”

Despite not offering degrees in fibers, metals and printmaking, Ozubko stressed that the SoA will still offer classes within those programs.

“This has been coming for a long time,” Ozubko said. “Small programs have great difficulty in offering courses. In the past, faculty were doubling up and increasing course loads.”

With fewer faculty members, Ozubko said many are not teaching specifically within one discipline, but are now teaching in various areas to offer a more “broad-based education.”

“The School of Art is very complex,” he said. “They deal with very different constituencies and discuss different areas of education. We have to make some adjustments here and there.”

Many are surprised and disappointed at the decision to place the Fibers program in moratorium, including Fibers program Chair Layne Goldsmith and senior Mirit Markowitz, who will be graduating this year as one of the last students enrolled in the Fibers program.

Goldsmith, who has been teaching in the program for 26 years, led the fiber course “Commissions: The Artist-Client Process,” in which students worked with clients to develop and design carpets and rugs.

The designs were then sent to Nepal to be woven. Former clients include UW President Mark Emmert.

Goldsmith said she found out about the moratorium through an e-mail last year and thought the announcement was unexpected. She was not consulted or warned beforehand.

Markowitz, in addition to being disappointed that a unique program is being placed on hold, believes the change is unfair for fibers students who are in the middle of the transition because many courses, such as the 100-level foundation courses, are not offered as frequently as they used to be.

She said that although foundation courses are not the most enjoyable aspects of art, they are important for critical thinking.

“I think it’s doing a disservice to everyone’s education,” she said. “If you’re an artist, you should learn how to draw. It just seems logical to me.”

Originally from California, Markowitz pointed out that the only reason she came to the UW was for the fibers program, describing it as a “private fine arts school within a public school.”

“I was really upset when I found out,” she said. “I personally don’t think I like this direction. I’m not as emotionally invested, since I’m actually graduating with this degree, but it seems like they’re trying to push students out [of the program] faster and faster.”

The SoA, among other schools, is still determining how to make changes, Ozubko said.

“We have to look at the big picture and see how we can give students an education, but we can’t cater to specific areas,” he said. “Education disciplines are very fuzzy right now. That’s the way the division of art is right now.”

Reach reporter Kim Lee at news@dailyuw.com.