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NEWS_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Marylhurst to close by year’s end
BY A U T U M N B E R EN D
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
After a sudden vote near the end of spring
term, M arylhurst University w ill close its
doors by the end o f 2018 and be returned
to its form er ow ners, th e Sisters o f the
Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The school
cited a steady decline in enrollm ent for
the past eight years and financial reasons,
such as m oney lost from ailing student
enrollm ent.
“ W hile w e h ave b een q u estioned b y
some w ho feehthe Board voted too early
and questioned b y oth ers w h o feel th e
decision w as made too late, th e truth is
th at there is ho good tim e to choose to
close an institution,” said Board of Trustee
vice ch air-elect and alum na Sue Hildick.
“ The decision w as difficult and painful
for all involved, even if w e believe it was
the right on e,” Hildick said. “ There are
no words to convey the profound sadness
w e fe e l for students, staff, facu lty and
alum ni while our: com m unity deals w ith
this situation, and our focus right now
i& on d oin g every th in g w e can to h elp
students transition.”
T h is im p a cts n o t ju s t M ary lh u rst
stu d en ts, b u t C lack am as C o m m u n ity
Coliege stu den tsas well.
The university will lay off 110 employees;
the Office of Human Resources is to m eet
on e-on -on e w ith employees to help with
the transition of being laid o ff .Severance
packages have been accepted for “ regular”
e m p loyees. T h re e -h u n d re d and sixty
em ployees in total w ill lose their jobs.
“ O f th e 110 regu lar e m p lo y e e s, all
regular em ployees w ill eventually be laid
off. Adjunct faculty aren’t laid o ff because
they aren’t regular employees; they w on’t
b e re -h ir e d (u n less th e y ’ re te ach in g
classes summer term), ” Marylhurst media
relations Kara Hansen w rote in an email.
M arylhurst currently has 743 students
enrolled, a m ajority o f w h ich are p a rt-,
tim e , a cco rd in g to th e U n iv e rsity ’ s
response b y em ail. This is a drop from
the 2013-141,409 student enrollm ent, a
54 percent drop.
“ W e a re w o r k in g to p r e p a r e
in d ivid u alized tra n sfe r p la n s fo r th e
estim ated 324 students w ho are unable
to com plete their degrees by the end of
summ er 2018,” Hansen wrote.
M ich aela V an C o rb ach , a f ir s t y ear
student that transferred from Chemeketa
Community College, had an entire plan laid
out for her w ith m usic therapy, helping
even children affected w ith autism.
“ I w as in sh o ck ,” said V anCorbach,
expressing how she felt angery, confused
and sad. “ M y h e art sa n k ,” sh e added.
“ It fe lt as. th ough all o f th e hard w ork
I put in over the last few years, getting
sch o la rsh ip s, m ovin g, p racticin g m y
in s tr u m e n ts and w o rk in g w a s fo r
n othing.”
Though the suddén notice has affected
m a n y s tu d e n ts , th e re h a s b e e n a
tsunam i of help from other colleges and
universities.
The m an y u n iversities and colleges
Marylhurst students are able to transfer
to include Reed College, Prescott College^
Portland State University, Linfield College,
L ew is & C la rk C o lle g e . M a ry lh u rst
University held a transfer fair where about
200 students participated.
Only those w ho can finish their degree
by the end of summer 2018 will be eligible
to complete their degree from Marylhurst.
Of the CCC alumni currently attending Marylhurst, four or five of around ten
students will finish their degree before the universities closure.
After its establisment as St. Mary’s College in 1893, Marylhurst University went on
to become one of the oldest degree-granting colleges in Oregon. After its closure,
the campus will be returned to the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
“ Students who w ill not [finish] by then
w ill be referred to a partner institution
fo r c o m p le tio n ,” a cco rd in g to th e
M arylhurst student FAQs w ebsite. “ All
credits earned at Marylhurst are valid even
after the U niversity has closed. They are
considered regionally accredited, and will
be considered for transfer by any other
regionally accredited institution.”
According to the w eb site’ s FAQ page
for students regarding the closure, one of
the questions is about scholarships, w ith
the last part asking “ W hat if I transfer
elsew here?” W hile M arylhurst explains
that the scholarships will be valid until the
end of sum m er 2018, it does not answer
the latter, on ly th at “ each student has
a unique situ ation and th e u n iversity
w ill be providing financial and academic
counseling to all impacted students on an
individual basis.” ,
M arylhurst w ill be w orking w ith local
Clackamas Print
colleges and universities to help students
transfer over.
“We were both planning on going there
for an English degreewith an emphasis on
creative w riting,” said Nathan Bas, a CC C
student who was planning on transferring
to Marylhurst. “There’ s not a lot of schools
out th ere, especially nearby, th at have
good creative w riting programs that w e
could get into.”
For th o se a t CCC, th is w as th e b e st
option. For CCCstudent, Writer Laureate
and English major Sara Sklenicka, this was
her choice. She said that “th ere ’ s a few
other colleges CCC has an English track
for and M arylhurst w as one o f th e m .”
W ith plans to go only to M arylhurst due
to its reputation, Sklenicka hadAvorked
her credits specifically for this university.
“ So, now I have a b u nch o f credits
designed specifically*to go to Marylhurst,”
Sklenicka said. “ Because [Bas and I] found
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