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As the 2025-26 academic year begins, Seattle University is welcoming more than new and returning students to campus. With the merger finalized, Cornish College of the Arts has officially become part of the Seattle U community. While day-to-day life remains unchanged for Cornish students, there are some differences from last year for students across both campuses.
One change being made is in how the different campuses are referred to. While students may be used to calling them Cornish and Seattle U, official communications have transitioned to using the names Cornish, the South Lake Union (SLU) campus, and Seattle U, the First Hill campus.
Students from Cornish are also adapting to changes in their emails, ID cards and other new systems rolling in from Seattle U. Program Coordinator for Student Life at the SLU campus, Brittney Sullivan-Deines, has been working to help students understand the differences and adapt.
“They’re kind of living in two worlds right now,” Sullivan-Deines said. “The merging [of systems hasn’t] all happened yet.”
Another significant change is that Cornish students now have access to all of Seattle U’s resources. Sullivan-Deines says that many students have been particularly excited for this change.
“A lot of the changes, in my opinion, are extremely beneficial to the students, because now they’re getting access to things like UREC, the nurse practitioners…and just different opportunities like study abroad and things like that,” Sullivan-Deines said.
Second-year Animation Student Anne Marie Barni also cited excitement about accessing Seattle U resources, particularly those from University Recreation like the Esports room.
While the current sentiment towards the merger seems to be positive, it was not always this way. Quinton Kuhn, a third-year music major, described how shocked he felt following the announcement.
“I knew Cornish was in debt…so I was excited, but I was a little unsure where this was all headed,” Kuhn said.
Kuhn and Barni both cited poor communication following the announcement as reasons why students may not have been enthusiastic about the merger.
“It was very sudden. There was a lot of confusion and misinformation about [Seattle U] being a religiously affiliated university,” Barni said. “There was a lot of frustration with Cornish administration, and I think that carried over to frustration with Seattle U’s administration, because nobody knew what was going on.”
As time went on, however, students seemed to warm up to the idea of a merger. Barni, as a member of Cornish’s Student Senate (CSS), was able to go on a tour of Seattle U the previous school year and learn a bit more about what the merger would entail.
“I think being able to meet people from SU allowed me to be a lot more understanding about the situation,” Barni said. “I think my perspective is different as a member of [CSS] because I was much more privy to information [on the merger] than other people.”
Now that the merger is official and the school year has started, students and faculty alike hope to bridge the gap between the campuses and create connections. One of the ways this is happening is through Seattle U staff from departments like the Career Engagement Center traveling to the SLU campus to be in-person resources for students at Cornish.
“[We’re] trying to make sure that everything that’s offered on the Hill is in some capacity, also going to be offered down at SLU,” Sullivan-Deines said. “We even have those staff members coming down to our campus numerous times per week and having office hours physically with us, so the students don’t have to commute up if it doesn’t fit into their schedule.”
There will also be vans running between the campuses. According to Sullivan-Deines, the vans will operate during the week between 11:00 am and 1:30 pm. They will leave every half hour from the First Hill campus and every hour from the SLU campus. Kuhn mentioned the commute being a barrier to being able to attend events or access resources at Seattle U. While the SLU and First Hill campuses are only about a mile and a half apart, Kuhn said that having to walk up the hill and plan around public transportation schedules can be complicated, and not always easy for a busy college student to plan for. Sullivan-Deines hopes that having transportation between the campuses will help alleviate that challenge for some students.
As the year progresses, Sullivan-Deines and her coworkers hope to foster as much interaction as possible between the two campuses. One of their ideas is to potentially host an event at the SLU campus where students from the First Hill campus can learn more about what Cornish is all about.
“Collaboration is a big thing in the arts, so I think [student life staff are] desperate to see what kind of collaboration they can do with these students,” Sullivan-Deines said.
Integration is also happening in other areas of campus life. Kuhn, also a member of the CSS, detailed how they hope to work with the Student Government of Seattle U this year.
“We are planning on having biweekly or monthly meetings. We have a delegate person from Cornish who will go to SGSU’s meeting and sit in and listen and report if they need any information from us, and vice versa,” Kuhn said. “Eventually when the academic year’s schedule goes to semesters for the whole institution we are planning on integrating a little bit more.”
Although there are many plans to create community between the SLU and First Hill campuses, the true merging of Cornish and Seattle U into one university will take time. Among other issues, Seattle U and Cornish currently operate on two separate academic calendars, and won’t be on the same one until the 2027-28 academic year. Until then, Kuhn hopes that people can have some grace with the process.
“I don’t speak on behalf of what everyone thinks here, but without the Seattle University acquisition, Cornish wouldn’t be a thing,” Kuhn said. “Transition is hard, and it means new things.”
Cornish students and staff seem to be hopeful for the future of being part of Seattle U. Despite its smaller student body, Cornish has many vibrant traditions and values that they look forward to sharing with the Seattle U community. While some details of the merger still remain unclear, the exchange of information and resources between the campuses has given students much to look forward to.
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