A clear-cut future for Kansas University’s School of Fine Arts remains elusive after a set of recommendations on how to reorganize the school was delivered to university officials this week.

After a two-month study on a possible reorganization of the school, Provost Richard Lariviere said the issue remains muddled.

KU’s administration narrowed its search for a new dean to three candidates in March, only to reject each. Then, theater and film professor John Gronbeck-Tedesco was appointed interim dean. Lariviere also told the search committee to look at a possible reorganization of the school and bring him a list of suggestions.

John Gaunt, dean of the School of Architecture and head of the search committee, said on June 25 that his group had finished its recommendations toward the end of May.

Lariviere said the suggestions he received ranged from bringing departments of other schools into Fine Arts, to breaking up Fine Arts departments into smaller pieces, to simply leaving the school as is.

“My naive hope was that this committee would deliver to me a clear vision of what should be done,” he said. “But as we discussed each permutation, it melded into the next one. Each one had positives and negatives.”

Lariviere said he planned on making a decision before the start of the academic year, although he wasn’t leaning in any certain direction for the fate of the school.

“I told faculty the only thing I would guarantee them is that not everyone would be happy with my decision,” he said.

For Tod Fish, doctoral student of choral conducting, the decision of who heads up the school was of less concern to him than a possible reorganization of the school.

Fish said his hope for whoever may take over the school would be a willingness to go to bat for the faculty. His main concern would be how money would be divvied up if a new department was brought under the auspices of the School of Fine Arts.

“That’s just one more piece of pie to split up,” Fish said.