"I feel like there is a huge population of original singer-songwriters at this school, who are playing guitar and playing piano and writing songs, who are here on scholarships for violin and voice, who are extraordinary musicians, and they don’t know what to do. They want to do their own music, but they haven’t figured out what department they fit in. I want to make sure that there’s a place for that in the Songwriting Department. It’s the only place in the world that you can get a degree in songwriting. And I want to make sure that the next 17-year-old girl who doesn't know who she is yet and is terrified and is writing these songs in her bedroom, saving her own life, has a place she can go where someone’s going to say, this is exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. And you’re great. Yes, play that song live for us."