Being a recent Art Institute alumni, I remember taking the Project Concept class in my final quarter at the school. This class was an essential course in that it taught us designers-in-training what 99% of the design courses in Ai barely touched upon: the business side of graphic design. This included everything from preparing your own invoice, to business cards, to your own personal logo. The class even challenges the students to implement an estimation for their total cost of work for a client, legal tips to prevent getting ripped off and used for free, and even set up a business plan to project how they will set up their freelance business, how much it will cost based on real life estimates, etc. I could go on and on about the importance of this class, but my main inquiry is thus: It has been recently brought to my attention that the Ai Board and the President have finalized the decision of removing this class from the class matrix, thereby removing it from the imposed criteria. When I had this confirmed by my former Project Concept teacher, Gerry Hampton, I was furious, enraged even. It is my judgment to believe that the President and all respective members of the Board truly have no idea of the implications it will bring by removing this essential class from the schedule, and it is a grave oversight. With the removal of this class, graduated students will literally walk out into the real world unprepared and uneducated in the ways of carrying out their freelance business and be lost in the ways of trying to contact ad agencies. I will ensure you that with the removal of this class, students will be more likely to get ripped off, used, not have their payments within a reasonable time, and be completely lost when the legal ramifications hit them when they wonder where their money is. Not to mention that without this class, they will still think like employees, letting clients dictate what they do and use them to their gain for very little money. In these hard economic times, this class for up and coming designers at this school couldn't be any more important and should still be a requirement to pass before graduating. It is time to make our voices heard. Let them know that we want the Project Concept class back into the matrix and back as an essential requirement for all students who want to embark on a career in the commercial arts, so that they know the tricks of the trade, are smart about their finances and taxes and legal documents, and can walk away from a job feeling successful and gratified, without the burden of manipulative clients, impending IRS audits and financial ruin. If you sign this petition, then you will agree that this class is as important, if not THE most important class that you will ever take in a design school. Period.