New Name Approved for Castleton University, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College

 
Jim Sabataso of the Rutland Herald reports in "VSCS Trustees approve Vermont State University name" on October 5, 2021 that Vermont State University will be the new name of the state’s three residential colleges.

The Vermont State Colleges System (VSCS) board of trustees voted unanimously to adopt the name for the new institution that will unify Castleton University, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College, effective July 2023.

Historic Walking Tour at the University of Vermont

VTDigger posted "Then Again: In its first year, UVM had 12 students, 31 library books and $12 tuition" where Mark Bushnell offers a short sketch of the history of the University of Vermont and notes that the story of how the university grew in size and stature since its founding is the subject of a free 90-minute walking tour the school that is offered at 10:00 a.m. on Saturdays through October 12th. The tours are led by William Averyt, UVM emeritus professor.

The university in Burlington, VT offers an Historic Tour of UVM web page with links to a map and a short video of the tour that is narrated by Professor Averyt.

The College of St. Joseph in Vermont Announces Intent to Close

Jennifer Scott, president at the College of St. Joseph in Rutland, VT announced this afternoon that the institution will suspend operations at the end of the current spring semester. The institution was founded in 1956 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rutland. It was initially known as St. Joseph’s Teacher’s College and occupied the former campus of Rutland Junior College.

You can learn more about the decision in "Another small Vermont college will soon close" written by Laura Krantz of the Boston Globe.  WCAX-TV of Burlington, VT also posted a short video clip this evening, "College of St. Joseph to close."

If you are interested in recent trends for closures, mergers,and acquisitions access College Closures since 2009 in the index at the right of any College History Garden page. There are separate tabs for non-profit closures, for-profit closures, and one for mergers and acquisitions. Each tab includes basic information for the institutions, i.e., Carnegie Classification, sector, accrediting agency, and the IPEDS unitid.

How Do You Close A College? Important advice from former campus leaders

Henry Epp of Vermont Public Radio conducted an interesting interview with Yves Bradley, "From Records To Real Estate, How Do You Close Down A College?"  Bradley served as chair of the board of trustees for Burlington College in Burlington, VT when it closed in 2016.  He is also currently a vice president at Pomerleau Real Estate.

Bradley's urges any institution facing financial difficulty to put together a detailed plan for orderly closure.  He argues that is easy for trustees to fall into a trap of putting their energy into saving an institution while failing to consider closure as a possibility.

The article identifies four key areas of advice for trustees and administrators:

• Place a priority on preservation of student academic records. 
• Institutions have an obligation to mitigate the impact of a closure on their future education.
• Figure out a plan for disposal of real estate before a lender forecloses and you lose all control.
• Be a proactive since trustees have a responsibility to assure orderly closure.

The interview was posted March 12, 2019 and is just over 5-minutes in length.

Those interested in the process of college closure should also visit a previous College History Garden post, President of Saint Paul's College Recognized from December 2014 when Millard D. 'Pete" Stith Jr. was recognized by the Richmond Times-Dispatch Faces of 2014 for his leadership of Saint Paul's College in VA when it closed in 2013. Stith offered reflections on the closing of Saint Paul's and the responsibility for stewardship of remaining assets and records.

Southern Vermont College Announces Closure

Lola Duffort of VTDigger reported this morning that "Southern Vermont College says it will close this summer."  She indicates that the institution's president David Evans "...cited declining enrollments, financial pressures, and a recent decision by the New England Commission of Higher Education, the school’s regional accreditor."

You can also read additional coverage by David Lachance of the Bennington Banner, "Southern Vermont College closing."

Saint Joseph College which was established in downtown Bennington, VT by the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1926 is considered to be a predecessor of Southern Vermont College. In 1974, the Sisters  turned the College over to an independent board of trustees and the institution moved to its current location on what is was known as the Everett Estate.

If you are interested in recent trends for closures, mergers,and acquisitions access College Closures since 2009 in the index at the right of any College History Garden page. There are separate tabs for non-profit closures, for-profit closures, and one for mergers and acquisitions. Each tab includes basic information for the institutions, i.e., Carnegie Classification, sector, accrediting agency, and the IPEDS unitid.

Norwich University Celebrates Bicentennial in 2019

Norwich University in Northfield, VT is beginning a celebration of the 200th anniversary of its founding as American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy in 1819. The name later changed to Norwich University in 1834.

The bicentennial web pages include more information on scheduled events, commemorative items, and a new history of the institution, Citizens & Soldiers: The First 200 Years of Norwich University, written by Alex Kershaw.

You can also learn more about Norwich by visiting the institutional history page or the web pages of the Sullivan Museum and History Center that is located on the campus.

Weekend Thoughts on College Closures...

Scanning higher education news and social media the last week or two feels a bit like it did back in March 2015 when Sweet Briar College announced it would close....of course, Sweet Briar is open and happily serving students.  And in spite of many calls at the time that we were at a tipping point, it doesn't really feel like we are falling off a cliff.

Now in the first few weeks of 2019 we have seen a couple of small institutions announce they will close, another that faces possible loss of accreditation, and others are indicating that they are looking to merge or find a partner.  As a result, we are once again seeing a number of people posting or commenting on what it all means...and from the sound of it, it isn't likely that it will be good.

Yet, in the flurry of recent articles, two people caught my attention this week with ideas that contrast with more common narratives.

Timothy Burke, professor of history at Swarthmore offers interesting reflections in "College of Theseus," on his Easily Distracted blog.  Burke provides brief historical sketches of Newbury College, Hampshire College, and Green Mountain College after their recent announcements and the reactions he was viewing in the media. 

In contrast to those who take each of these cases and jump to conclusions about what they imply for all of higher education, Burke argues that "...when you look at the story of any particular closure, they all have some important particulars. The story being told that flatters the disruptors and innovators would have us thinking that there are these venerable, traditional, basically successful institutions going about their business and then suddenly, ZANG, the future lands on them and they can’t survive. At least some of the institutions closing have been hustling or struggling or rebranding for their entire existence."

Similarly, I noticed that John Newsom, a reporter for the Greensboro News & Record, has been pushing back a bit in social media on the quick takes that possible loss of accreditation for Bennett College will automatically lead to closure. 

Newsom is doing really good reporting on the situation for his newspaper.  He recently noted  "...shortly after word got out that Bennett College could lose its accreditation, several folks asked me if they thought the private women’s school would close. A month ago, I said I didn’t know. Now, I’m going with probably not. It’s really, really hard to shut down a college, and Bennett is putting up a heck of a fight." His article presents several options for Bennett that would allow it to continue its mission.

For those interested I have been updating a file on Google Sheets for College Closures since 2009. 

It is far too easy to hear that a college is closing and then jump to conclusions about a trend as Burke notes in his post.  Historical perspective is always valuable and before we all conclude that the sky is falling, it is important to remember that a few colleges close every year.  

While it is obviously early in the year and we may in fact see a surge of closures in 2019, our peak number of closures over the last decade was in 2016 and the numbers declined in each of the past two years.

For a longer perspective, Chris Gehrz, professor of history at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota authored a couple of posts several years ago that explore data on institutional closures and found that closures peaked during the 1970s.

You can access the file by clicking on College Closures since 2009 in the index at the right of any College History Garden page. The file opens with an initial "Summary" tab. You can then find more details on each institution in the "since 2009 not for profit" and "since 2009 for profit" tabs. This extra information includes: IPEDS id, Carnegie Basic classification, accrediting agency, and sector for the respective institutions.

Green Mountain College Announces It Will Be Closing

President Robert Allen of Green Mountain College in Poultney, VT announced today that the institution will close after the completion of the current spring semester.

Green Mountain College was initially incorporated as Troy Conference Academy in 1834 and opened two years later.  The name changed to Ripley Female College in 1863 and back to Troy Conference Academy in 1874. It became Green Mountain Junior College by 1937 and changed its name to Green Mountain College in 1974.

VTDigger posted a good article on the closure, "Green Mountain College to close at the end of the year," with reporting by Lola Duffort.

  You can also see additional reporting in a post by Vermont Public Radio, "Green Mountain College Announces Plan To Close This Spring."

If you are interested in recent trends for closures, mergers,and acquisitions access College Closures since 2009 in the index at the right of any College History Garden page. There are separate tabs for non-profit closures, for-profit closures, and one for mergers and acquisitions. Each tab includes basic information for the institutions, i.e., Carnegie Classification, sector, accrediting agency, and the IPEDS unitid.

Merger and Name Change approved for two Vermont Colleges

WCAX reports in "New name official for Johnson and Lyndon State Colleges," that the Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees approved the merger of Johnson State College and Lyndon State College by July 2018.  The merged institutions will be known as Northern Vermont University.  Johnson State College in Johnson, VT enrolls just over 1,500 students and Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, VT enrolls 1,266 students.  The two campuses in northern Vermont are separated by roughly 50 miles.

If you are interested in recent trends for closures or mergers, access College Closures since 2009 in the index at the right of any College History Garden page.  There are separate tabs for mergers or non-profit and for-profit closures.  Each tab includes basic information for each institution, i.e., Carnegie Classification, sector, accrediting agency, and the IPEDS unitid.

Paint by Numbers...a picture of Burlington College's declining financial prospects

Burlington College's announcement this past week that it will be closing led to a flurry of news articles and blog posts that we have not seen since Sweet Briar College announced they would close back in March, 2015.  In the case of Sweet Briar, there was sharp disagreement between the former president and trustees who voted to close and the alumnae and friends who were shocked and ultimately victorious in their efforts save the institution.  

In contrast, there is apparent agreement among pundits commenting on Burlington's situation.  Everyone agrees that the college faced serious financial difficulty due to the accumulation of debt used  in 2010 to purchase the lakefront property that served as Burlington's campus in recent years.   

I was interested in seeing if a quick calculation using a few publicly available numbers would show a change in Burlington's financial situation and prospects after 2010.  In short, Burlington College presents another opportunity to explore changes in the institution's financial situation using a model publicized on The Sustainable University website.  

The chart and table were constructed using data pulled from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).  FY2015 financial figures for Burlington College were not available.  

Following calculation of ratios, two stars are placed on the chart.  The one in cell C1 in the lower left hand corner reflects changes in Burlington's expense and equity ratios for the five year period from FY2004 through FY2008.  Burlington College may've been small during this period, but it was operating in a fiscally responsible way with institutional revenues covering expenses and a manageable level of debt.   

The star in cell A3 in the upper right hand corner represents a very different picture with changes in expense and equity ratios for the period from FY2010 through FY2014 pointing to an unsustainable situation.   

It is interesting to see the changes in enrollment and the corresponding changes in expenses and revenues.  You can also clearly see the impact of the property purchase on total assets with a corresponding increase in debt levels.

Thanks for reading and I am looking forward to your feedback and suggestions!

Burlington College Announces Closure

Ann Galloway reports for the VTDigger.org news site that Burlington College will be closing.  There are a several links to earlier VTDigger's investigative articles.

Burlington College was founded in 1972.  While enrollments were trending upward since the 2009-10 academic year, they never reached 250 students.  And the institution's endowment, valued at just over $160,000 for the 2013-14 academic year, was very small.  In this context, it is unfortunately hard to imagine any other outcome after the college used debt financing to purchase land and buildings for a new campus. 

Additional articles on the closing can be found at:

• Inside Higher Ed, "Burlington College Will Shut Down,"
• The Chronicle of Higher Education, "Burlington College Will Close, Citing Longstanding Financial Woes," 
• Burlington Free Press, "Burlington College to close under weight of debt,"
• The Atlantic, "What Killed Burlington College?"

Name Change Approved for Castleton State College

The Board of Trustees for the Vermont State Colleges voted on July 23, 2015 in support of a name change for Castleton State College.  The institution founded in 1787 will become Castleton University.

Problems mount for Burlington College

Laura Krantz explores a number of very difficult problems facing Burlington College in an article published by VTDigger.org on December 21, 2014.  The VTDigger site also has a number of other excellent articles from her investigative reporting over a number of months as the institution inappropriately diverted funds, failed to pay a variety of obligations, and saw the resignations of key administrators.

The institution is located in Burlington, VT and was founded in 1972 as the Vermont Institute of Community Involvement.

Vermont Colleges that have Closed, Merged, or Changed Names

This table below includes institutions that have closed, merged, or changed their names.  If you note a need for changing or updating information, please notify ray01brown@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

An index with links to separate pages for other states and countries is available.

There is a College History Garden Facebook group or you can view and follow multiple College History Garden boards on Pinterest or there is a board specifically devoted to Vermont colleges.

Thanks for your interest and suggestions!

Trinity College (Burlington, VT)

The University of Vermont Libraries Center for Digital Initiatives offers a number of photographs of Trinity College.  The institution was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1925.



Trinity College Alumni & Friends maintain a web page with brief history of the institution.