According to an April 29 article in The Spectator, UW-Eau Claire’s music therapy program is in jeopardy due to budget cuts, low student enrollment and the loss of a professor after this semester, leaving the program with only one.

Disappointingly, given all the controversy surrounding the program, a lot of vague and conflicting information has been given by both sides.

If the program is unwilling or unable to hire another professor, is retaining the music therapy program worth it? More diversity is needed within a program no matter how good the professor is, and fewer students are going to enroll once they see only one professor is teaching all the classes.

It seems to be mostly a he-said-she-said situation. No one has come forward with an objective viewpoint; everyone has an agenda and presents conflicting studies. Testimonials, not hard facts, made up most of the arguments.

More than 60 interested people piled into the Student Senate meeting April 26, including one woman who flew in from Arizona.

While this turnout is great – it’s difficult to get 60 people riled up about anything on campus – Senate unanimously passed a resolution supporting maintaining the program, without receiving very complete information. Senate represents the students and should not be acting to appease those who scream the loudest … or even those who fly in from Arizona.

Both sides need to present objective statistics. How many people are helped by music therapy? Which studies, exactly, say music therapy majors have no hope of finding a job, and which say they have a 100 percent job placement rate? How can both be right?

Before students and faculty ask Senate to support them, both need to be more clear and more specific.