During the Annual Meeting, we asked participants to provide feedback on a statement about the proposed U.S. federal budget from the Trump administration. We received overwhelming support for the statement, and want to share it with the general membership here. The ACSA board continues to talk about how to take these values forward into our program activities. As well, we are talking with the collateral organizations about how to work together to make the collective voice of architecture heard. Please feel free to send your comments on this statement to feedback@acsa-arch.org.  

– Bruce Lindsey

ACSA Statement on the U.S. President’s 2018 Budget Proposal

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture opposes recently proposed budget cuts to U.S. federal government programs that strengthen America by creating and protecting healthy neighborhoods, increasing intercultural understanding through the arts and the humanities, and supporting access to higher education.  

If adopted, the FY2018 budget proposal would undercut programs that provide equitable access to fundamental human needs, such as housing and health care. The proposal significantly reduces the federal government’s role in ensuring the integrity of the natural environment, a common good that, if compromised, would harm people’s health, safety, and well-being, beginning with the most vulnerable residents of U.S. cities and towns. 

The proposal would also eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Together, these two organizations have a demonstrably positive impact on Americans’ understanding of their human experience. Programs like the Mayor’s Institute for City Design exemplify how federal funding builds bridges between communities and strengthens civic culture and a shared American heritage. 

The U.S. President’s 2018 budget proposal threatens the development of knowledge that benefits all Americans, limits the ability of architects to create healthy and resilient communities, and drastically reduces funding that helps disadvantaged students gain higher education. We believe the architecture profession has an obligation to enhance human well-being and to create just and inclusive communities. ACSA members carry out this obligation through teaching, research, service, as well as practice.