Lo's Life: July 2011

....not the newly co educational William Peace University.

I don't know if anybody even reads my blog, but Thursday, my alma mater sent an e-mail out to alumnus informing us the college that has been an all women's institution for 154 years will turn into a co-ed university. Um, wtf?!? I've included the e-mail below....

July 21, 2011

Dear Alumna(us) and Friends:

We are writing to inform you about several significant changes that are coming to Peace College and the basis for these changes.

During the last two decades, Peace College has celebrated wonderful successes and milestones. Student outcomes, faculty and student honors and awards, new programs, new buildings, generous donations, leadership changes and even the Sesquicentennial of Peace all have been recognized. Concurrently, the College has been struggling to cope with the challenge of achieving and sustaining adequate enrollment to assure the viability of Peace.

The College’s offering of a four-year degree, beginning in 1996, was both a milestone and a calculated risk. The transformation of public institutions of higher education in North Carolina and the remarkable growth of the State’s outstanding community college system had put the future of women’s junior colleges at serious risk because of the declining demand for single-gender, two-year institutions of higher education. The challenge for Peace was to use the four-year degree program to attract sufficient enrollment, to remain sustainable and to grow the depth and breadth of our academic and co-curricular programming.

Beginning fifteen years ago, we saw enrollments begin to rise. From August 1996 to August 2003, full-time, day enrollments grew from 448 to 681 students. The College’s Strategic Plan 2012, created in 2006, targeted the enrollment of 850 full-time, day, undergraduate students beginning in the fall of 2012. But from our peak in 2003 and with the exception of two years, we saw day enrollments gradually decline. By August 2010, enrollment for full-time day students was just 598 – returning Peace to an enrollment level below the 2001 academic year. Despite efforts by all of the dedicated faculty, staff, and administration, it has proven very difficult to reverse this trend in enrollment.

Simply put, only about 2% of women presently seeking higher education will consider a women’s college. Or put another way, 98% of today’s women seeking a college education will not consider a women’s college! Since 1950, out of 203 women’s colleges, only one in four has survived, and seven of the approximately 50 remaining institutions nationwide are in our competitive market within a two- to three-hour drive of Peace.

July 21, 2011

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Those institutions that have survived have either larger enrollments and/or very large endowments. The financial crisis of 2008, a major recession, and significant changes in higher education affecting both private and public institutions have also placed extreme pressures upon our enrollment situation.

With ongoing assessment of the College’s circumstances, it has become more and more clear that the confluence of fast-paced and fundamental changes in American higher education, adverse economic conditions, public/private tuition differentials, and the continuing erosion of Peace’s traditional target market require the College to make substantive, prudent changes in order to ensure that Peace will remain financially viable and academically strong. As a result of our accrediting agency’s review of our financial reports from fiscal-years-ending June 30, 2008, June 30, 2009, and June 30, 2010, we know that we must be attentive to enrollment because we are a tuition-driven, private institution; i.e., we are financially dependent upon student tuition as a primary source of revenue.

These problems are not unique to Peace. Most small colleges with enrollments under 1,000 students are at risk. The exceptions are those few with endowments significantly larger than Peace’s. We have seen some colleges elect to close or to sell to a for-profit institution. We know that Peace has been an integral part of the community for over 150 years and that its tradition and mission remain strong. We believe that it has become critical to take steps that will allow the college to continue its existence as an independent institution of higher education.

In order to preserve Peace and make it an even stronger institution, the Board of Trustees has unanimously approved a strategic plan that we believe will enable us to increase our enrollments, strengthen our academic mission, and increase the value of a Peace education. Here are the core elements of our strategic plan:

University Status: One of the main elements of our plan is to become William Peace University. We believe that university status will enable Peace to attract and retain more students; and it reflects our commitment to the development of graduate degree programs, to future international recruitment and to enhancing our regional recognition.

Enhanced Academic Programs: We will be offering strong career-enhancing academic programs, rooted in the liberal arts tradition, that best prepare our students to compete in high-end jobs of the 21^st century. The number one goal of students and families today is to be prepared to acquire a job for the start of a career upon graduation.

July 21, 2011

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Becoming Coeducational: This was an extremely difficult decision. As one of the oldest women’s colleges in the country, we do not take this change lightly, but our options are few. We are losing many highly-qualified prospective female students who choose not to apply because of the current single-gender status. We are also losing a substantial number of Peace women after their sophomore year, many because they want to experience a coeducational environment. Those losses are seriously impacting our four-year graduation rates. While our first-year to second-year retention rate for students is approximately 76%, only one-third of students graduate within six years.

In the fall of 2009, Peace began offering coeducational, evening undergraduate programs. We will enroll men into our day programs beginning in the fall 2012 semester. We expect the enrollment of men in our day programs to be gradual, as has been the experience at other women’s colleges that have opened their doors to men.

A Renewed Commitment toward the Education of Women: As we admit men to our programs, we will continue to maintain single-gender residence hall space. We also intend to offer select classes targeted to a single-gender, where research demonstrates that women and men learn differently and that each benefit from a single-gender classroom. As a co-educational institution, however, all classes will be accessible to all students. Additionally, our long-held traditions including singing the alma mater around the fountain, students receiving Bibles at graduation, theFall Cocktail, the Red Rose Ball, and Peanut Week will also remain.

Investments in the Peace Community: This plan calls for us to invest more in campus improvements, faculty, student life/services, and in enhancing our academic programs.

Alumnae(i) Involvement: All Peace students can continue to greatly benefit from your experiences and mentorship. While we are making some changes, this will always be your school, and you are always welcome on campus.

Change is never easy. However, the Board of Trustees is absolutely committed to taking the steps necessary to maintain Peace for generations to come.

We understand you might have questions and concerns about these changes. To that end, a question and fact sheet is enclosed. Additionally, President Townsley will be hosting two webinars to detail some of these changes and answer questions that you may have. Please pre-register early as space may fill by emailing the following address: AlumWebinar@peace.edu. When you email, there will be an “auto-reply” that will give you the webinar dates, as well as, thedirections on how to pre-register.

July 21, 2011

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There is nothing ordinary about our graduates and Peace refuses to accept merely surviving as an institution. From its humble roots as Peace Institute in 1857 through today, Peace has always been about excellence, innovation, and progress, and our actions today are a reflection of that. We believe that William Peace University is the next step in keeping this institution strong.

Sincerely,

The Peace College Board of Trustees

This doesn't make me happy. Doesn't make me want to support my school. Makes me want to cry. Not at the fact that they are becoming co-ed, or the fact they are becoming a university. I'm just very upset that since the new president has come in, little over a year ago now, thing have happened w/o warning. Professors fired, forced retirements and so many other things. I do understand there was a lot of damage that had been previously done, but think about it, if Obama had the power to move as quickly as this new president has at PC, what in the world kind of chaos would America be in?!?

I can say I want to give so much kudos to ALL of the alums of PEACE COLLEGE. There have been protests, peaceful ones of course! Also, letters have been written to express the way we feel, the media has been informed AND in the midst of all the drama, it's allowing so many alums from decades ago to meet sisters from recent graduating years!

Peace's Alma Mater:

"In the heart of Carolina, 'Neath its skies of blue, Stands our Noble Alma Mater, Glorious to view. Classic in her broad proportions, Looks she proudly down - Reared against the arch of heaven, With the stars for crown.
(Chorus)
Lift the chorus, speed it onward; Let it never cease; Hail to thee, our Alma Mater; Hail, all hail, to Peace!"

I'm closing this blog off with a quote I'd seen from the title of one of my PC sister's blog: "I'd rather be dead than go co-ed"......not literally, but you get the point!

Until next time.

Lo's Life

Saturday, July 23, 2011

I'm not even preggo, but I fell in love with the idea.....

writemuch: i'm a PEACE girl

i am the Promise of PEACE.....

Monday, July 18, 2011

A Fat Chick's Fantasy....