Thank you for this -- it is heartbreaking. I threw my hat in the ring for the Rider presidency (an appropriate role for me as a former Dean of humanities in two universities who spent 12 years teaching at the Peabody Conservatory of Music) and did not even get a glance from the search committee, which got what it wanted -- a CPA MBA, not an leader of an institution of learning and the arts. When I saw who was hired it made sense, though sad sense. I did my PhD at Princeton, raised small children there. and have a sister who is a voice teacher in town still, who has spent innumerable hours at WCC. None of this had to happen but this is what happens when CPA MBAs look at institutions in terms of assets to be sold off.
Thank you! I saw some similar comments regarding the president and direction they tried to take things there. It really is too bad since there is so much potential in that specific location. Sort of reflects the long battle that so much of higher ed has faced now.
Thanks for sharing your insight. Always love reading your stuff on Substack, too.
Sophia Strong Taylor's 1935 donor stipulation coming back to haunt Rider 90 years later is wild. The Seminary lawsuit cutting their payout from $40M to $13M basically killed any financial upside from the sale. What really gets me is how the article shows colleges as contested assets with stakeholder claims that go way beyond balance sheets, the community using it as a third place, the original donor intent, the Chinese buyer backlash. Real estate logic breaks down when you factor in all those non-financial constraints. Rider's enrollment drop mirroing the sector-wide decline since 2009 suggests this wasnt really about WCC at all.
Thank you for this -- it is heartbreaking. I threw my hat in the ring for the Rider presidency (an appropriate role for me as a former Dean of humanities in two universities who spent 12 years teaching at the Peabody Conservatory of Music) and did not even get a glance from the search committee, which got what it wanted -- a CPA MBA, not an leader of an institution of learning and the arts. When I saw who was hired it made sense, though sad sense. I did my PhD at Princeton, raised small children there. and have a sister who is a voice teacher in town still, who has spent innumerable hours at WCC. None of this had to happen but this is what happens when CPA MBAs look at institutions in terms of assets to be sold off.
Thank you! I saw some similar comments regarding the president and direction they tried to take things there. It really is too bad since there is so much potential in that specific location. Sort of reflects the long battle that so much of higher ed has faced now.
Thanks for sharing your insight. Always love reading your stuff on Substack, too.
A really thoughtful, nuanced essay.
Thanks!
Sophia Strong Taylor's 1935 donor stipulation coming back to haunt Rider 90 years later is wild. The Seminary lawsuit cutting their payout from $40M to $13M basically killed any financial upside from the sale. What really gets me is how the article shows colleges as contested assets with stakeholder claims that go way beyond balance sheets, the community using it as a third place, the original donor intent, the Chinese buyer backlash. Real estate logic breaks down when you factor in all those non-financial constraints. Rider's enrollment drop mirroing the sector-wide decline since 2009 suggests this wasnt really about WCC at all.