Original Clarion Program Moving

The director of the Clarion Workshop at MSU has announced the program will be moving to the West Coast.

Sadly enough, Michigan State University will no longer be hosting the Clarion program, which has produced sf illuminary after illuminary. Its director, Liz Zernechel, sent out the following:

Dear all,

As my final act as Director of the Clarion Workshop, I want to write all of you personally and thank you for your support of the Clarion Workshop during it's time here at Michigan State University. The Clarion Foundation's board members have decided to remove Clarion from MSU and take it to the University of California: San Diego.

I'm sure all of you know that I disagree with this decision, and I would feel remiss as a faculty member of Michigan State to not mention one important point. Over the last few years there has been funding issues with Clarion, everyone knows this, however under my tenure as Director of Clarion, my staff and I negotiated a contract with MSU Outreach that ensured a balanced budget for as long as we stayed with any and all donations and/or extra funding achieved going straight to the coffers. So please, if you have an opinion about Clarion leaving the East / Midwest, keep in mind it is NOT Michigan State University's fault.

Within the week I will close the MSU Clarion website, email, and accounts. If you have issues or concerns or questions, please take them to the Clarion Foundation. They can be located at http://theclarionfoundation.org/ Just go to the Contact Us section and click on whomever you wish to send your inquiry to.

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I must admit, one of the first questions that sprang to mind is whether now we'll have a Clarion and a Clarion North, or whether, given the relocation, it'll be Clarion West and Clarion Northwester. It's a fine program, and I'm sure the University of California: San Diego will be delighted to be hosting it. Still, it's a little sad to see this change.