1. 'You Can't Be A Change Agent and Survive'
"DePauw University - ranked as Indiana's premier liberal arts college - has endured a year that rocked the place to its foundation and toppled its president. The story encompasses culture, demographics, and leadership, but begins and ends with money.
For years, DePauw ran at a deficit, drawing from its flush $730 million endowment to meet the gap, but last year trustees got serious about balancing its books. Meager 1 percent raises were followed by a mid-year switch to a cheaper healthcare plan. Morale plummeted. Frustrated by what some perceived as President Mark McCoy’s lack of communication, transparency, and vision, the faculty passed a no-confidence vote. Then the real shocker: In a “restructuring,” DePauw laid off 56 full- and part-time administrators and staff, and offered a voluntary buyout to more than 100 tenured faculty, some as young as 50. Administrators jumped ship, including the academic vice president and the dean of faculty. Come spring, the admissions department announced more bad news. The incoming class was 200 students short of its usual 630 target, creating a $5.4 million tuition shortfall. Within weeks, McCoy resigned.
So what happened? That, like the solution, depends on whom you ask.
The first thing any administrator will tell you is DePauw is not alone. Liberal arts colleges, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, are struggling for a variety of reasons, including rising tuitions, a declining number of high school graduates, and Americans’ growing anxiety over jobs. More than a dozen small colleges have closed in the last four years, representing about a 7 percent drop in the total number of schools. Here in Indiana, Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer shut its doors in 2017. The next year, the president of Earlham College, Alan Price, resigned. A few months later, the school slashed its annual budget by 12 percent."
>> What They're Saying: “Misery loves company. Nearly all the Great Lakes Colleges Association schools experienced declines in first-year student enrollments this year.” - Bob Leonard, DePauw's VP for Finance and Administration
>> Reality Check: “The job is impossible. “You have alumni, students, the board of trustees, faculty. We all have the right answers, and we can’t agree on anything. So what are you going to do?” - Gary Lemon, professor of economics and management
>> The Final Word: “Our community wants a president who is an academic innovator, a relationship builder, a collaborative team player with high cultural competencies, a skillful communicator, a strategic fundraiser, a crisis manager, and an operational visionary. That’s a lot.” - Justin Christian, trustee
- A not uncommon story these days and worth Your Time, written by Lili Wright and appearing in Indianapolis Monthly
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