Twenty-eight trustees will travel from across the nation to meet in Chambersburg Sunday to consider enrollment, academic and infrastructure changes for the small liberal arts college.
One of the proposals strikes at the heart of the women's college -- admit men and allow them to reside on campus.
"To continue with no or little change, and staying on the path that serves the tradition of the institution, could also mean the long-term demise of the institution," said L. Michael Ross, president of the Franklin County Area Development Corp. "While there are a lot of emotions, this is coming down to the future being based on a business decision."
Ross is not a trustee, but is keenly aware of the college's direct impact of more than $20 million a year on the local economy.
Wilson College survived a trustee vote in 1979 to close the school when the Alumnae Association won a reversal from Franklin County Judge John W. Keller. Trustees had based their decision on continued declines in enrollment and financial giving.
Wilson alumnae again are standing up for the Wilson tradition. They have raised nearly $50,000 in two weeks and will be at the school on Sunday. Studies indicate that women develop leadership skills, self-confidence and moral principles at exclusively women's colleges more so than at any other type of college.
Studies also predict that admitting
men could double Wilson enrollment in five years and boost the college's chance for sustaining itself."That is a hot button with alum," said Mary Cramer, president of the Alumnae/i Association. "I'm hearing from both sides. They are all over the place, when you have 7,500 alums. I also have to look at the facts."
"It is an emotional issue," said John Gibb, chairman of the Wilson trustees. "Other issues don't gather quite as much emotion. Adding programs: That's what colleges and universities do; they educate people."
The trustees have a list of 17 new academic programs projected to add about 250 students to campus. At the core is health care -- nutrition sciences and speech pathology in fall 2014, registered nursing in fall 2015 and physical therapy in fall 2016. Online offerings in business administration, primary education certification, health care administration, nursing and special education would enroll another 470-plus students.
The additional programs are fantastic, according to alumnae Samantha Ainuddin, a Philadelphia area television director. But the school needs to continue to focus on the spirit of being a women's college.
"If guys want to take classes go ahead, but you can't live on campus," she said. "Maybe we can find a niche that hasn't been exploited. Explore the other options, then maybe go co-ed. Let's explore all the options before throwing the baby out with the bath water."
Some fear that the private school may lose donations if it admits men. A recent report, however, shows that alumnae of the Wilson women's school and the men and women who attended Wilson's adult degree program participate in fundraising at about the same rate. Alumnae and alumni of the past 30 years also don't have as deep pockets or as great an inclination to give as graduates of prior decades.
"There's a strong feeling among a number of the alum," said Trustee Amy Boyce of Fayetteville. "You also have to consider the students' feelings now on campus. You have to consider the cost. We're not set up to be co-ed. When you bring more men on campus, you will probably have more need for security."
The school first allowed non-resident male students to attend classes in 1946. Twenty enrolled. In 1982 the school started its continuing education program, which allows non-resident male students.
The estimated cost for making room for men on campus is surprisingly little, about $300,000, compared to $2 million to $3 million for starting health care career programs, according to Trustee Leslie Durgin of Colorado. The school would have five years to bring on men's athletics such as basketball, golf and cross country.
Among the facts going against the women's college:
-- Since 1965, 53 women's colleges have closed, and 68 have gone co-ed. Of the remaining 60 women's colleges, only Wilson is neither located in a highly populated area nor religiously conservative.
-- Five percent or less of college-bound girls consider attending or apply to attend a women's college.
Trustees interviewed for this story say that the college cannot stay on its current course and survive.
"It would be a slow, but inexorable decline," said Durgin, who chaired the Commission on Shaping the Future of Wilson College.
The college library has been closed for more than a year after pipes burst in the building. The tiny student center Sara's Coffee House has been converted to a place where students can to request books from the library.
Wilson College President Barbara Mistick has said the college has a total debt of $31 million debt and $10 million in deferred maintenance. The college plans to make annual payments of $400,000 starting in 2013 for five years on maintenance projects, then $1 million annually starting in 2019 for the science building construction.
The debt is manageable for a couple of years, but would be difficult to sustain over the long term, according to Ross.
The school's operating deficit is projected to jump from $2 million a year to $3 million by 2019, if current trends continue. Enrollment in the undergraduate college peaked at 732 students in 1967 and has not hit half that in more than 35 years.
About 800 students attend classes at Wilson, less than half of them in the residential College for Women. The remainder are enrolled in the Adult Degree Program, which admits men and women.
Wilson College is also small, maybe too small, according to studies it commissioned. College-bound students do not prefer colleges with fewer than 1,000 students, or colleges in rural areas. Prospective students also expect a student center, pool and gym at their college. Students have rated their high school gymnasiums higher than Wilson's. Wilson students are also more active than average college students.
Wilson might rent the gymnasium at the former Scotland School for Veterans Children, according to Durgin.
Trustees eventually must develop a strategic plan for capital improvements.
"We have to figure how to parse them out," Boyce said.
"These are programs, not spending figures," Gibb said. "We want to define what the strategic initiatives are. We would have to go about it prudently. We're not writing checks here."
Ainuddin and others contend that the school can do a better job of marketing itself. Equestrian alumnae who have won competitions could bring the college some good publicity. Professors could blog and expose the school's academic programs to students searching topics online.
"One of Wilson's problems is that its promotion isn't where it should be," Ainuddin said. "Wilson is kind of background noise. The thing that boggles my mind is that Chambersburg and Wilson have a disconnect. We have to make Wilson a vested interest again."
Wilson's own survey indicated that the Chambersburg community is indifferent to the college. Franklin County's population is the second-least educated in Pennsylvania.
Durgin said she is proud that the school has increased its marketing budget to $435,000 and hired Vice President of Marketing and Communications Brian Speer.
"In my view, you need to do that whether you're co-ed or not co-ed," she said.
The college's strategy report cautions however that strong marketing will increase enrollment just 10 percent.
"The biggest issues facing Wilson are recruitment and retention (of students)," Boyce said.
It has always been that only 2 percent of college-bound girls actively consider attending a women's college, Ainuddin said.
She was attracted by the size of the school.
"I had a specific career I was aiming at," she said. "I didn't want to wait two years for smaller classes. Everyone at Wilson knew my name. It had a different feel. I didn't go because it was a women's college. High school kids don't care about stats."
The 28 voting trustees and President Mistick, a non-voting trustee, meet at 9 a.m. Sunday in Laird Hall. Lunch is scheduled.
"I don't think the trustees are counting votes," said Durgin, a former mayor of Boulder, Colo. "We want to talk, to listen to and learn from each other. I think there's a tremendous amount of respect for each other."
Trustees doubt there will be a single up or down vote on Mistick's package of recommendations. They also acknowledge the recommendations are intertwined. They anticipate plenty of discussion.
"What we quickly learned: To enable Wilson to thrive, it's going to take many activities working together," Durgin said. "In a sense it makes it more complicated and easier. If one does not work, there are other activities that can help."
Chairman Gibb said earlier this week he was formulating a strategy on the most effective way to vote on the proposals.
The meeting is a continuation of a December meeting where trustees asked for more information and for some information to be presented in a different way, Durgin said.
Public Opinion was granted access to reports by consultant Stevens Strategy and to the commission's early recommendations, but neither the commission's final recommendations to the president nor the president's proposal to the board.
"Final versions of both documents are, at this point in time, proprietary to the board and administration," marketing VP Speer said.
The commission's Nov. 1 draft of recommendations "provides as much insight as we are willing to share at this point," he said.
"We're looking at the decisions that would impact the strategic direction of the college," Gibb said. "It think every organization periodically has to look at course corrections. It's going to be a long-term outlook. That's not to say you don't come back in the future and course correct again. We want a college that is robust and thriving."
Ainuddin said she and more than 20 alumnae and current Wilson students will be on campus Sunday to show solidarity for improving the school's academic programs and finances while maintaining a single-sex education.
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Jim Hook can be reached at 717-262-4759 and jhook@publicopinionnews.com.
1979: A fight to stay open
Wilson College survived closure in 1979 when alumnae rallied behind the school and a county judge overturned the trustees' decision. The trustees, many reportedly in tears, voted to close the school because of a fiscal crisis and declining enrollment.
Less than a week later, students and alumnae rallied to save the school. The Alumnae Association challenged the closure in Franklin County Court. Within two months Judge John W. Keller reversed the trustees' decision.
In 1979 Mary Patterson McPherson, a Wilson trustee and president of Bryn Mawr College, told Public Opinion, "Actions should have been taken at an earlier stage (10 to 12 years ago,) but the situation had been allowed to deteriorate. The board hired a very strong and very able president, and gave her a very difficult task, but it may have been just too late to turn around the school."
The school expanded academics to include communications, business administration, dance and equine studies. In 1982, the college opened a continuing education program, whose degrees were open to men for the first time.
Current Wilson trustees say they are taking action early and have had input from many people in a relatively open process.
TIMELINE:
1868 - Sarah Wilson pledges $30,000 for a women's college proposed by two Presbyterian pastors.
1869 - Wilson College is chartered.
1870 - The college opens with 23 residential students and 42 non-residential. Tuition was $350.
1875 - Enrollment is 83.
1887 - Enrollment is 164.
1895 - Main Hall is completed after disastrous fire a year earlier.
1918 - Campus is quarantined for a flu epidemic.
1946 - Men are accepted as non-resident students.
1970s - Wilson acquires 200-acre campus of Penn Hall Junior College.
1979 - Wilson trustees vote to close the school, but a judge overturns the decision. Equine studies and veterinary medical technology programs will be added.
1982 - Men can earn degrees for the first time through Wilson's continuing education program.
1996 - The college offer on-campus, residential education for single mothers with children.
Current enrollment at Wilson College: 695 students
- 316 in the College for Women
- 305 in the Adult Degree Program
- 74 in the graduate programs.
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