Dear Brother ETA DELTS,At the suggestion of our ETA DELTA President, Craig Oscarson, I will try to relate the series of problems leading up to the Board of Trustees filing for bankruptcy on behalf of Upsala College in June 1995. In the space provided by our Newsletter it will be impossible to go into any depth with the problems which beset our college. However, your Fraternity’s officers feel there is a need for this story to be told. The financial collapse of Upsala did not take place suddenly. As long ago as the mid-1980’s there were signs of problems which, unless reversed quickly, could only result in a worsening situation. Most of these problems could have been eliminated with strong management and dramatic leadership by the Administration and the Officers of the Board of Trustees. One very large problem, over which the College had little to say, was the changing environment of East Orange. What had been for so long a lovely suburban town was now becoming an urban community with empty stores, empty apartment houses, vacant lots where fine buildings had once stood and, sad to say, an increasing crime rate. This situation made it most difficult to attract students from what had once been Upsala’s chief areas for recruiting, that is the nearby New England states, New York state, and the suburban areas of New Jersey. From about 1987 that pool of prospective students almost dried up. That is not to say that there were not qualified students still applying for admission. There were just not enough of them. Instead many less qualified students applied and were accepted. Many of these, possibly the majority, entered Upsala as Economic Opportunity Fund students. This helped the enrollment statistics, but it placed increasing pressure on finances. Many of these students were unable to meet their financial obligations and left the college; some were unable to compete academically and dropped out. Many of them left owing the college varying amounts of money. And here is where one big mistake was made. Instead of realizing what was happening, the administration continued the same policy by admitting scores of the same type of students. Thus, the unpaid bills rose, and the College’s debt increased. Only nominal attempts were made to collect theses debts. However precarious this may have made the College’s future, there were other problems which proved to be even larger. When our Honorary ETA DELTA member, President Rodney Felder retired in 1986, the College entered a two year period under a new president who was unqualified, and who did nothing but hold "planning" meetings out of which very little ever developed! At the end of two years he left and another new president was on hand. He came in with big ideas, big plans, and he declared he was looking forward to a 25 million dollar plus fund-raising plan for Upsala. He brought on board a financial counselor from California who programmed a large staff organization to conduct the capital campaign, held a lot of instructional planning meetings, and there his efforts apparently stopped! There was no real volunteer campaign, but instead, up to a dozen staff positions were established in the Development office. In the next several years, individuals went in and out of these positions like they were in a revolving door. No one with real fund-raising experience or proven management skills was ever in charge of this department. And, even worse, the President admitted to this writer, near the close of his tenure in August of 1994, that he had not realized how little money was being raise. The question arises where had he been for six years?!? During this President’s term of office the 100th Anniversary of the founding of Upsala was celebrated. This was to be the focus around which the very large capital fund campaign mentioned above was supposed to revolve. But, by the fall of 1993, not a word was said about the proposed fund drive. This was the clue that should have tipped everyone, especially the Trustees, that the college had very large financial problems. Thankfully the 100th year celebration was a success, and those attending the many events were unaware the College was in such dire shape. To aggravate an already difficult situation, this President took it upon himself to dismantle the Alumni Association as it had been operating since the 1940’s. Instead of Officers and a Board elected by the alumni body, the President proposed a reorganization which established five separate committees, each responsible for a particular activity, and each committee was to report their plans and activities to the college’s Board of Trustees. This took the autonomy away from the alumni. The proposal of this plan was vigorously opposed by the Board of the Alumni Association. However, the President had the Trustees vote to dissolve the Alumni Association and implement his new plan. As a result those active in the Alumni Association were completely demoralized and discouraged. At a time when alumni support was needed so badly, this was not a smart move! This President kept insisting to the public through the press and even TV that Upsala was on the verge of solving its financial problems, which by now had grown to a debt of over 10 million dollars. Almost up to the last month before he resigned, he was still proclaiming that a solution to the dilemma was "just ahead" or "just around the corner". Actually, fund-raising was at a very low ebb, the Alumni Fund was down perceptively, support from friends, corporations and foundations in the community was way below former years. No new large donors had come forth to offset this heavy drop in financial support. A last-straw possibility arose when a businessman from Korea suddenly appeared and, at a Board meeting, made statements to the effect that he would pump in several millions of dollars to rescue Upsala. This proved to be baloney when, as it turned out at the last meeting of the Board in April 1995 he announced that his government would not allow him to take that large a sum out of the country unless it was to be put in to a profit-making organization. Being a friend of the Korean President, as he claimed he was, he should have known this all the time. It was at that meeting that the Board voted to take a poll by mail of its members on the question of whether to close Upsala. A majority voted to close the College, but the vote was not unanimous. By the time this poll was taken, the debt had grown to somewhere near 12 million dollars. This brought the College another major stumbling block. In the fall of 1994 the Middle States Accrediting Association voted to withdraw its accreditation of Upsala. The overriding reason was that the College was so far in debt that it could no longer pay its bills. Faculty and Staff had gone for several months without any salary; major suppliers including the food suppliers were now large creditors, and bank credit lines had been over-extended. The College had not been able to pay even the interest on bank and other outstanding private loans. Further, without full accreditation students could no longer receive financial assistance to attend the College. Part of his huge debt was also owed to the College’s endowment funds. The endowment had been borrowed against to help pay bills in the later years. This included the general endowment fund, the Chapel Fund and many smaller scholarship funds, several of which had been established by Alumni. The College appealed the Middle States withdrawal of accreditation and asked that the accreditation be continued through commencement 1995 so that the graduating seniors could have their degrees recognized, and undergraduates would have completed their respective semester’s work. The Middle States agreed to this. There was one other factor which played an important role in this debacle. In any institution of higher education it is the governing board which is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the educational program and the financial stability of the organization. In the case of Upsala College it was the responsibility of the Board of Trustees and particularly the Executive Committee of the Board to make sure the educational program was approved by the accrediting organizations, and that the financial stability of the college was secure. It has to be said that the Upsala Board apparently neglected to carry out its responsibilities. This was probably true not in just the waning days of the college, but from a period going back to the late 1980’s. Through the history of Upsala it had had a responsive Board, well aware of the pitfalls and problems which might be encountered. The Board of these recent years was very remiss in not carrying out its charge to properly administer the institution, especially in the area of providing adequate overview and leadership in guarding the financial security of the College. Better than anyone, the Executive Committee should have foreseen the growing problem years ago and made a large effort to turn the College in another direction and, as the expression goes, "to move heaven and earth" in an attempt to save Upsala. Some members of the Board seemed out of touch or indifferent to what was happening. No strong leadership was forthcoming and some members even seemed very ready to get the problem over with and behind them.! In the final analysis the demise of Upsala was caused by a series of events, the changing community, the changing make-up of the college student community, and the short-sightedness, mismanagement, and lack of strong leadership by those responsible for the College’s well-being. One very bright light throughout this affair was that the Faculty served with distinction. Not one word that I know of was said against the quality of the Faculty or its educational program. This is a tribute to the Faculty, but a very sad story when compared to others involved in the downfall of our beloved Upsala. I am truly sorry to be the bearer of such sad news.
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