Future of Division III

[Little Giant 89]

I am just stunned at the thought of eliminating a college's chemistry department.  I think of the legion of chemistry majors from my own alma mater who have gone on to be extraordinary mentors and donors. 

I'm sure that it makes immediate financial sense to Keystone, but over the long haul it just seems so short sighted.

[Ron Boerger]

The whole Keystone situation reeks to high heaven.  They have been very close-mouthed about their situation; supposedly they have a partner they are working with to address their financial challenges, but months after announcing they had one they still won't tell anyone who that is.  I hear the accreditors are not very happy with them as the school has yet to provide some of the information it has been asked for. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I am just stunned at the thought of eliminating a college's chemistry department.  I think of the legion of chemistry majors from my own alma mater who have gone on to be extraordinary mentors and donors. 

I'm sure that it makes immediate financial sense to Keystone, but over the long haul it just seems so short sighted.

I'm not sure all the machinations that went into it, but sometimes it's just circumstantial.  My soon to be closed alma mater did a major reshuffling a few years back, eliminating music and english departments entirely.  There are a ton of alums from those majors who were super upset - but, when you dug in, you found the school had identified the decrease in enrollment in those majors as concerns four or five years earlier, developed a program to recruit to them and told the faculty "you need to get some students or we're closing your departments."  The faculty basically said, "not my job to recruit; I teach," the numbers didn't get better and the departments went away.

Huge part of the strength of the school and the tradition was lost, but what other options existed, right?  You can offer all the best majors and provide all the best instruction, if you can't get kids into the seats, it's a waste.

If you need to know how desperate small liberal arts schools are for enrollment of any kind, Mount Vernon Nazarene, one of the teachout partners for ENC, is offering any transfer student a full tuition scholarship for the remainder of their college career if they'll be a full time student on campus.  Now, that tells me maybe they're overcharging for room and board, but it's still a pretty extreme measure to target a population you've got a pretty good chance to reel in.

[CNU85]

I am just stunned at the thought of eliminating a college's chemistry department.  I think of the legion of chemistry majors from my own alma mater who have gone on to be extraordinary mentors and donors. 

I'm sure that it makes immediate financial sense to Keystone, but over the long haul it just seems so short sighted.

I'm not sure all the machinations that went into it, but sometimes it's just circumstantial.  My soon to be closed alma mater did a major reshuffling a few years back, eliminating music and english departments entirely.  There are a ton of alums from those majors who were super upset - but, when you dug in, you found the school had identified the decrease in enrollment in those majors as concerns four or five years earlier, developed a program to recruit to them and told the faculty "you need to get some students or we're closing your departments."  The faculty basically said, "not my job to recruit; I teach," the numbers didn't get better and the departments went away.

Huge part of the strength of the school and the tradition was lost, but what other options existed, right?  You can offer all the best majors and provide all the best instruction, if you can't get kids into the seats, it's a waste.

If you need to know how desperate small liberal arts schools are for enrollment of any kind, Mount Vernon Nazarene, one of the teachout partners for ENC, is offering any transfer student a full tuition scholarship for the remainder of their college career if they'll be a full time student on campus.  Now, that tells me maybe they're overcharging for room and board, but it's still a pretty extreme measure to target a population you've got a pretty good chance to reel in.

I dabble just enough in the world of Academia that it drives me insane. My background is in the business world. The academia world can be nuts at times. "Not my job to recruit, I teach". My reply would be, "Not my job to pay you if you don't have students". And don't get me started on tenure. That's the dumbest concept in the world. I prefer the concept of do your job well and you get a paycheck.

I had a boss who would always tell us, "we can do it, or our replacements will do it".

I know it's old school thinking....but still.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I get the purpose of tenure, for sure - I think the bigger issue is a lack of connection between the various groups.  The schools that seem to work the best often have faculty, staff, administration, and students who all feel like they're on the same team.  Very often they see each other as rivals or competitors.

[WashJeff68]

W&J's retiring President sent an e-mail to alumni today including a statement that the incoming freshman class will be the largest in 20 years. He credited new programs the college is offering, but perhaps the $50,000,000 bequest to support scholarships received earlier this year had an impact as well. 

[scottiedoug]

"but perhaps the $50,000,000 bequest to support scholarships received earlier this year had an impact as well."  ya think?

Lots of these issues could be addressed if people who claim to care would offer real support in the form of money...

[Ron Boerger]

For these schools with structural issues the random alumni sending a check isn't going to make a bit of difference.  They needs tens to hundreds of millions of dollars and as Birmingham-Southern showed it ain't easy to get corporate/wealthy donors to pledge that kind of money -especially when the situation is dire and the timeframe limited.  They made a very public appeal for $200M which got stuck at less than a quarter of that total for years and then it was all over. 

There are plenty of people with the means to make a difference.  Too many of them focus solely on using their wealth to make even more money.

[Ralph Turner]

I take a slightly different perspective on philanthropy. Is the charity (or 501c3 for lack of better designation) a good steward of the resources I have given them?  How much good will among faithful Methodist alumni did B-SC lose when the Pres kicked the Bishop off campus 15 years ago? That is the 3rd college of Methodist heritage to close this decade. (Wesley, Iowa Wesleyan, now BSC).

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Yeah, there's a huge problem for religious schools, especially more conservative ones.  The ideological gulf between the students you're recruiting and the people funding the school is only widening.

We literally had Nazarene pastor's kids refusing to go to ENC because of the poor treatment of LGBTQ students on campus and the same congregations those kids grew up in withholding funds because the place had gotten too liberal.

The denominational influence also wasn't helpful - largely kept the Trustees from making necessary changes for survival.

[scottiedoug]

Random small scale philanthropy by alums or anyone else will not address these issues, but broad-based alumni support sure does not hurt. Mismanagement is a different problem, as is boards of directors not accepting their legal fiduciary responsibilities (see BSC).

The culture/political gaps are yet another challenge!  People who really do believe in a broad and liberal arts education should realize how many people in this country do not believe in education and in fact oppose it. And some of those people are running colleges....

I appreciate people om this board taking these issues seriously in the context of D3 athletics. These are challenging times!

[Little Giant 89]

I agree that in a College's final hours the random gift of 100 from an alum is not going to offer much help.  That institution needed to have built a culture of philanthropy well ahead those times of crisis.

All of that said, today is June 30 and is likely the last day of your alma mater's fiscal year.  So I am going to invite, nay implore, you to step away from this fine message board for a moment, go to your College's giving page, and make an annual fund gift before the end of the day.  The long term well being of your institution likely depends on it.

And yes, I am a major gifts officer for my alma mater.

[SPECIAL TEAMS STARTER]

With the current tax deductions permitted you can claim 50% of your AGI and carry the full amount over for a 5 year period until you reach the full amount of your donation. It will appear on line 12 of your individual deductions on your Federal Tax Return. Like Little Giant 89 I am taking full advantage of this opportunity and am a major donor to the Polar Bear Club.

[Ron Boerger]

Clark Summit University of the United East Conference is the latest to pull up stakes and call it quits, shutting down immediately.  Teach-out plans are in place for either fellow UEC member Cairn or D1 Liberty, both of whom will "accept all credits earned at CSU (with some conditions)".  The teach-out plan applies only to students who were already enrolled; those who initially enrolled for the fall semester are on their own, to the point that they will only receive refunds of their deposits "[a]s property and assets are sold [...] proceeds [...] will be distributed to creditors like you in the legally prescribed order [...] {i}f sufficient funds are available".

The Department of Education College Scorecard pegged undergraduate attendance at 376.  The school had been placed in non-compliance probation last November by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, who rejected the school's teach-out plan on May 20th of this year.

The school's last available 990, for the year ending May 2023, showed miniscule net assets of $3.3 million after the school lost nearly $1.9 million in the tax year. 

[Kuiper]

Clark Summit University of the United East Conference is the latest to pull up stakes and call it quits, shutting down immediately.  Teach-out plans are in place for either fellow UEC member Cairn or D1 Liberty, both of whom will "accept all credits earned at CSU (with some conditions)".  The teach-out plan applies only to students who were already enrolled; those who initially enrolled for the fall semester are on their own, to the point that they will only receive refunds of their deposits "[a]s property and assets are sold [...] proceeds [...] will be distributed to creditors like you in the legally prescribed order [...] {i}f sufficient funds are available".

The Department of Education College Scorecard pegged undergraduate attendance at 376.  The school had been placed in non-compliance probation last November by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, who rejected the school's teach-out plan on May 20th of this year.

The school's last available 990, for the year ending May 2023, showed miniscule net assets of $3.3 million after the school lost nearly $1.9 million in the tax year. 

In what now appears to be an obituary for the institution, @SimpleCoach of the All Things DIII Soccer podcast just posted a Fields of Dreams segment with video of his visit to the Clark Summit campus a few days ago.  Beautiful views on that campus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFGkwAeY-go