A group of masked students gathered last week by the busy road outside the John Donaldson Technical Institute at the University of Trinidad and Tobago to demand the reinstatement of local animation pioneer, festival founder and their animation teacher, Camille Selvon Abrahams. The protesters claimed that Abrahams was fired “illegally” from her position as program administrator of the Digital Media Department earlier this month, when she was dismissed without formal warning and removed from campus by security, according to her earlier statements.
The students, who wore Guy Fawkes masks now globally associated with the group Anonymous, told the Trinidad Express that the “shocking” move by the department, which they claim was made in order to instate a friend of one of the UTT executives, will “destroy the department” and impact their future careers. “We are in animation, so expect more protest using that artform,” one participant told an Express reporter.
Abrahams was hired by UTT in 2008 and tasked with designing the university’s animation program. She has been a crucial force in driving the development of the local animation and filmmaking community, and is the founder and creative director of the annual Animae Caribe festival. She stated at the time of her firing that she was being removed for not having a PhD. University provost Dr. Fazal Ali has told local media that the decision was part of “restructuring” the digital media arts curriculum.
Fired for not having a Ph.D. in animation. Having a Ph.D. in animation most times means that you are not a real animator but a bit of a joke. Animation is not an academic field. It is a craft. And as such you learn it by doing it. I once taught a pre-production class that had beginning animation as a prerequisite. The beginning animation teach had a masters degree which means that he had done and undergraduate animation and a masters’ thesis film. Two films does not an animator make. He had everybody filming everything on 2s with no slow in or out and nobody had ever seen a smear. Most of the students had done more animation that he had. I had to retrain every single animation student he put out. So if you have a Ph.D. does that mean that you have done 3 animations? Still not an animator.