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When a College Closes from the desk of Karin Fischer Senior Writer

Dear Reader,

I've been writing about college and their communities since I came to The Chronicle 20 years ago. Back then, the story was whether higher education could restore economic energy and cultural vibrancy to struggling towns and cities.

Now — because of financial pressures, a demographic squeeze, and increasing skepticism about the value of a degree — it’s about the potentially college-less future of these communities.

To try to understand the impact of an expected uptick in college closures on thousands of America’s college towns, I traveled to one, Aurora, N.Y., where Wells College shut its doors last spring after a century and a half.

Wells, a liberal-arts institution that was once a women’s college, had just 350 students when it closed; it wasn’t the same economic and employment behemoth as a research university or flagship campus. Yet, as I spent several days reporting in Aurora, it was clear that the town-gown relationship was about much more than dollars and cents.

For their communities, colleges can be cultural magnets, neighborhood anchors, gathering spots, partners in solving everyday challenges.

In Aurora, Wells ran the water-treatment plant and housed the community health center. The campus was a haven for runners and dog walkers, a playground for the village’s children. A quarter of volunteers at the fire department were Wells students. One local official compared the closure to a bad breakup.

As I continue to write about colleges and their relationships with the people and places outside the campus gates, here are a few questions I’m thinking about:

	•	Are there ways that colleges in tough financial and enrollment straits can better prepare their towns and regions for contraction or closure?

	•	Are there lessons in college closures about how all institutions can be better neighbors? How can college leaders better understand community priorities and build relationships that are strong and sustainable?

	•	With Americans’ perception of higher education being as shaky as some institutions’ finances, could nurturing local ties help rebuild public trust and support?

Do you have thoughts to share? Are there other questions my colleagues and I should be asking? I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me at karin.fischer@chronicle.com.

Meanwhile, please check out more Chronicle coverage of higher ed’s public-perception challenges.

As always, thank you for reading.

Karin Fischer
Senior Writer