Officials at Evanston Episcopal school insist it is not closing
By Manya A. Brachear | Chicago Tribune reporter
April 25, 2008
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, one of 11 schools in the U.S. dedicated to preparing Episcopal priests, told tenured faculty on Thursday that their jobs would end next year.
Officials at the Evanston seminary insist the school is not closing, but that it is redefining its approach for preparing men and women for priesthood. Earlier this year, the school stopped accepting new candidates and advised first-year students that they should enroll in other seminaries if they wish to earn their degrees from an Episcopal institution.
For more than a century, seminarians have traditionally enrolled in a three-year residential program to earn a master's of divinity degree that prepares them for the priesthood. Seminary officials said the school would explore the possibility of offering the degree in other formats such as distance learning or short-term residential stints.
"We want to bring the traditional excellence and depth of residential theological education to the new challenges and realities of the 21st Century," said Rev. Gary Hall, dean and president of Seabury-Western. "People can't afford to come here. We need to figure out how to bring it to them."
Of the nation's 11 accredited Episcopal seminaries, three have taken steps to downsize. In recent months Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., sold some of its campus to Lesley University in Boston. And Bexley Hall Seminary closed its campus in Rochester, N.Y. to consolidate its program in Columbus, Ohio in partnership with Trinity Lutheran Seminary.
Seabury-Western is the only school to stop admitting students.
Experts say its fate highlights the challenges facing many shrinking mainline Protestant denominations. Some also suggest that it's a symptom of the theological polarization within the church since the 2003 approval of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson—the church's first openly gay bishop.
On Thursday, the seminary's board of trustees declared an imminent financial crisis, a required step in order to end the employment of tenured faculty. The seminary's budget is projected to run a $500,000 shortfall for the current fiscal year. Annual expenditures are projected to run $2.9 million. Seabury-Western also carries a $3.5 million debt.
4.25.2008
Seabury-Western gives notice to all faculty, cuts staff
Decision comes in response to 'financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution'
By Mary Frances Schjonberg, April 24, 2008
[Episcopal News Service] Seabury-Western Theological Seminary's trustees told the faculty of the school April 24 that their appointments will end June 30, 2009.
The Evanston, Illinois, school also eliminated nine staff positions, effective for most of them on May 23 -- a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The moves came after a special board meeting in which the trustees declared that the seminary "is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution."
"This is an especially painful and difficult decision to make and announce," said Seabury Dean and President Gary Hall in a statement. "However, it became clear during the past 18 months that the seminary’s endowment and other income sources are not capable of sustaining a traditional residential seminary program."
On February 20, the Evanston, Illinois-based seminary announced a major restructuring and discernment period. Saying that the seminary "cannot continue to operate as we have in the past," officials announced that the school will stop offering the traditional version of a Master of Divinity degree and would soon develop "a detailed plan for the future operation of Seabury, including a financial plan that brings expenses in line with revenues." The faculty and staff cut emerged from a committee that was set up to review the school's finances.
The scope of the seminary's financial problems was made clear to the trustees at the February meeting when they learned that that income from tuition, fees, and endowment resources would be insufficient to overcome an ongoing deficit of nearly $500,000 per year. Tuition at Seabury is $13,000 while the actual cost per student is more than $50,000. The trustees said in the April 24 statement that sustaining that $37,000 expenditure gap over a period of more than two decades had exhausted the seminary’s resources despite an increase in alumni/ae and other giving during the past few years.
The seminary currently has an estimated $2.9 million in accumulated debt -- likely to climb to $3.5 million later this year because of transition costs, according to the Seabury statement.
The board also attempted to raise money to eliminate its current debt load. A strategic planning process showed in October 2006 that at least $10 million would be needed to eliminate that debt and increase the school's endowment, while $8.7 million could be targeted program development and campus renovation to support any new programs.
"The $18.7 million goal significantly exceeded Seabury’s fundraising capabilities," the statement said.
"At its heart, Seabury will always be a school in service of the mission of God as proclaimed and enacted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ," Hall said. "We simply cannot sustain our mission with limited resources and by using a traditional model of ministry education."
In February the board suspended admissions recruitment for its three-year residential master of divinity (MDiv) program, its master in theological studies (MTS), two doctor of ministry (DMin) and certificate programs. Students currently enrolled in the MDiv and DMin programs will be allowed to finish their degrees at Seabury. Some courses may be taken at other Chicago-area seminaries.
Hall said in a separate letter to the Seabury community that nearby Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary has agreed to accommodate Seabury's continuing students so that they can graduate in 2009 and 2010 with Seabury degrees.
During their April 24 meeting the trustees declared "financial exigency" -- the technical term for determining a financial crisis that threatens the survival of an institution – thus allowing the trustees to end faculty tenure and terminate faculty positions. Faculty will receive full salary and benefits in the 2008-2009 academic year and teach a reduced course load so that they have opportunity to search for a new position, according to the news release. Staff will have separation benefits that include severance pay, payment for unused vacation, continuation of health benefits, unemployment benefits, and career counseling.
"Faculty understand the precarious financial situation of the seminary and have appreciated being consulted in the decisions leading to the board’s declaration of exigency," Dr. Ruth A. Meyers, the school's academic dean and professor of liturgics, said in the release. "While there is a range of emotion as they face an uncertain future, there is also tremendous good will and support for one another, for students and staff, and for the institution."
Hall said that the seminary's "primary work right now is caring for the people in the Seabury community whose lives are being dramatically disrupted."
"While we need to look to what Seabury might become in the future, we have focused almost all of our energies on the immediate concerns facing those around us," he said.
The Rev. Elizabeth Butler, vice president for advancement and administration, said in the statement that the reality of "dismantling the current structure of our beloved institution" is causing "profound grief on so many levels."
The trustees have investigated future program options, including merging with another institution, offering non-residential programs, and distance learning, according to the statement.
"The administration is optimistic that it can resume offering the doctoral programs in preaching and congregational development that have been a hallmark of Seabury for many years," the statement said. "The trustees plan to focus on future plans during the coming months."
Hall wrote in his letter that "even in the midst of the personal costs of this transition" he believes that the school is "moving into a new vision of sustainable, excellent, and deep theological education which can serve the church creatively as it changes over the next century."
Part of a larger trend
The seminary's moves to deal with financial challenges are not unique. The Episcopal Church-affiliated seminary Bexley Hall decided in February to close its Rochester, New York, campus and concentrate on its affiliation with Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.
In March, Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts announced that Lesley University, a 12,000-student, multi-site university, would buy seven buildings from EDS for $33.5 million, while EDS will retain ownership of 13 buildings on its eight acre campus.
All Episcopal and other mainline seminaries have faced rising costs and stagnant or declining enrollments for the past 30 years while higher education costs have accelerated, Seabury's April 24 release noted.
The deans of the 11 Episcopal Church-affiliated seminaries have been discussing for more than a year how their schools must adapt to major changes in forces influencing how theological education is provided to members of many faith traditions. Seminaries are increasingly faced with a shrinking number of people pursuing ordination and parochial employment, many of those who do attend cannot or do not want to get their education in the traditional three-year resident model that has been the hallmark of Episcopal seminaries.
That challenge is paired with growing deficits incurred through the high costs of providing theological education on campus whose aging buildings demanded an ever-larger portion of the schools' budgets. The deans have been clear to say that their context is similar to that facing many other denominational seminaries, and both undergraduate and graduate education in general.
The seminaries have been exploring partnerships in distance learning, local ministry development programs (perhaps in partnership with specific dioceses), Hispanic-Latino ministry preparation and the possibility of offering a collaborative Doctor of Ministry degree in Africa.
In his letter, Hall said Seabury has large questions that are still unanswered, such as what kinds of institutional (school/diocese/congregation) partnerships make sense for Seabury, what is the best use of the current property and campus, what endowment resources will remain after the school's debts and deficit is handled, what kinds faculty and staff will be needed in the future and what model or models of theological education can Seabury offer the wider church.
-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is Episcopal Life Media correspondent for Episcopal Church governance, structure, and trends, as well as news of the dioceses of Province II. She is based in Neptune, New Jersey, and New York City.
By Mary Frances Schjonberg, April 24, 2008
[Episcopal News Service] Seabury-Western Theological Seminary's trustees told the faculty of the school April 24 that their appointments will end June 30, 2009.
The Evanston, Illinois, school also eliminated nine staff positions, effective for most of them on May 23 -- a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The moves came after a special board meeting in which the trustees declared that the seminary "is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution."
"This is an especially painful and difficult decision to make and announce," said Seabury Dean and President Gary Hall in a statement. "However, it became clear during the past 18 months that the seminary’s endowment and other income sources are not capable of sustaining a traditional residential seminary program."
On February 20, the Evanston, Illinois-based seminary announced a major restructuring and discernment period. Saying that the seminary "cannot continue to operate as we have in the past," officials announced that the school will stop offering the traditional version of a Master of Divinity degree and would soon develop "a detailed plan for the future operation of Seabury, including a financial plan that brings expenses in line with revenues." The faculty and staff cut emerged from a committee that was set up to review the school's finances.
The scope of the seminary's financial problems was made clear to the trustees at the February meeting when they learned that that income from tuition, fees, and endowment resources would be insufficient to overcome an ongoing deficit of nearly $500,000 per year. Tuition at Seabury is $13,000 while the actual cost per student is more than $50,000. The trustees said in the April 24 statement that sustaining that $37,000 expenditure gap over a period of more than two decades had exhausted the seminary’s resources despite an increase in alumni/ae and other giving during the past few years.
The seminary currently has an estimated $2.9 million in accumulated debt -- likely to climb to $3.5 million later this year because of transition costs, according to the Seabury statement.
The board also attempted to raise money to eliminate its current debt load. A strategic planning process showed in October 2006 that at least $10 million would be needed to eliminate that debt and increase the school's endowment, while $8.7 million could be targeted program development and campus renovation to support any new programs.
"The $18.7 million goal significantly exceeded Seabury’s fundraising capabilities," the statement said.
"At its heart, Seabury will always be a school in service of the mission of God as proclaimed and enacted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ," Hall said. "We simply cannot sustain our mission with limited resources and by using a traditional model of ministry education."
In February the board suspended admissions recruitment for its three-year residential master of divinity (MDiv) program, its master in theological studies (MTS), two doctor of ministry (DMin) and certificate programs. Students currently enrolled in the MDiv and DMin programs will be allowed to finish their degrees at Seabury. Some courses may be taken at other Chicago-area seminaries.
Hall said in a separate letter to the Seabury community that nearby Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary has agreed to accommodate Seabury's continuing students so that they can graduate in 2009 and 2010 with Seabury degrees.
During their April 24 meeting the trustees declared "financial exigency" -- the technical term for determining a financial crisis that threatens the survival of an institution – thus allowing the trustees to end faculty tenure and terminate faculty positions. Faculty will receive full salary and benefits in the 2008-2009 academic year and teach a reduced course load so that they have opportunity to search for a new position, according to the news release. Staff will have separation benefits that include severance pay, payment for unused vacation, continuation of health benefits, unemployment benefits, and career counseling.
"Faculty understand the precarious financial situation of the seminary and have appreciated being consulted in the decisions leading to the board’s declaration of exigency," Dr. Ruth A. Meyers, the school's academic dean and professor of liturgics, said in the release. "While there is a range of emotion as they face an uncertain future, there is also tremendous good will and support for one another, for students and staff, and for the institution."
Hall said that the seminary's "primary work right now is caring for the people in the Seabury community whose lives are being dramatically disrupted."
"While we need to look to what Seabury might become in the future, we have focused almost all of our energies on the immediate concerns facing those around us," he said.
The Rev. Elizabeth Butler, vice president for advancement and administration, said in the statement that the reality of "dismantling the current structure of our beloved institution" is causing "profound grief on so many levels."
The trustees have investigated future program options, including merging with another institution, offering non-residential programs, and distance learning, according to the statement.
"The administration is optimistic that it can resume offering the doctoral programs in preaching and congregational development that have been a hallmark of Seabury for many years," the statement said. "The trustees plan to focus on future plans during the coming months."
Hall wrote in his letter that "even in the midst of the personal costs of this transition" he believes that the school is "moving into a new vision of sustainable, excellent, and deep theological education which can serve the church creatively as it changes over the next century."
Part of a larger trend
The seminary's moves to deal with financial challenges are not unique. The Episcopal Church-affiliated seminary Bexley Hall decided in February to close its Rochester, New York, campus and concentrate on its affiliation with Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.
In March, Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts announced that Lesley University, a 12,000-student, multi-site university, would buy seven buildings from EDS for $33.5 million, while EDS will retain ownership of 13 buildings on its eight acre campus.
All Episcopal and other mainline seminaries have faced rising costs and stagnant or declining enrollments for the past 30 years while higher education costs have accelerated, Seabury's April 24 release noted.
The deans of the 11 Episcopal Church-affiliated seminaries have been discussing for more than a year how their schools must adapt to major changes in forces influencing how theological education is provided to members of many faith traditions. Seminaries are increasingly faced with a shrinking number of people pursuing ordination and parochial employment, many of those who do attend cannot or do not want to get their education in the traditional three-year resident model that has been the hallmark of Episcopal seminaries.
That challenge is paired with growing deficits incurred through the high costs of providing theological education on campus whose aging buildings demanded an ever-larger portion of the schools' budgets. The deans have been clear to say that their context is similar to that facing many other denominational seminaries, and both undergraduate and graduate education in general.
The seminaries have been exploring partnerships in distance learning, local ministry development programs (perhaps in partnership with specific dioceses), Hispanic-Latino ministry preparation and the possibility of offering a collaborative Doctor of Ministry degree in Africa.
In his letter, Hall said Seabury has large questions that are still unanswered, such as what kinds of institutional (school/diocese/congregation) partnerships make sense for Seabury, what is the best use of the current property and campus, what endowment resources will remain after the school's debts and deficit is handled, what kinds faculty and staff will be needed in the future and what model or models of theological education can Seabury offer the wider church.
-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is Episcopal Life Media correspondent for Episcopal Church governance, structure, and trends, as well as news of the dioceses of Province II. She is based in Neptune, New Jersey, and New York City.
Seabury-Western announces faculty and staff cutbacks
Nine staff members to lose their jobs; Faculty given one year termination notice
Michael Barwell/David Skidmore
4/24/08
The trustees of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston today declared that the Episcopal seminary “is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution” and has given notice to all faculty that employment will end on June 30, 2009. The school also eliminated nine staff positions. The final date of employment for most of these staff will be May 23 – a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The trustees of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston have declared that the Episcopal seminary “is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution” and notified all faculty that employment will end on June 30, 2009. The school also eliminated nine staff positions. The final date of employment for most of these staff will be May 23 – a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The decision was the outcome of a special board meeting April 24 in which the trustees were presented with recommendations by a committee charged with reviewing the seminary’s finances. In February, the board was informed that income from tuition, fees, and endowment resources would be insufficient to overcome an ongoing deficit of nearly $500,000 per year. The seminary currently has an estimated $2.9 million in accumulated debt—likely to climb to $3.5 million later this year because of transition costs. The board ordered a financial plan that brings expenses in line with revenues.
“This is an especially painful and difficult decision to make and announce,” said the seminary’s dean and president, Gary Hall. “However, it became clear during the past 18 months that the seminary’s endowment and other income sources are not capable of sustaining a traditional residential seminary program.
“At its heart, Seabury will always be a school in service of the mission of God as proclaimed and enacted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Hall said. “We simply cannot sustain our mission with limited resources and by using a traditional model of ministry education.”
Immediately following the April 24 meeting, board members met with students, staff and faculty of Seabury-Western to hear their concerns and answer questions. The board also announced that Assistant Professor Frank Yamada had been granted tenure. Yamada has been on the faculty of Seabury-Western as assistant professor of Hebrew Bible since 1999.
Students and board members characterized the session as one of grief balanced with appreciation for the talent and dedication of the staff and faculty. Though few were surprised by the news of cutbacks, they still were profoundly saddened by the prospect of losing friends and mentors. "I think that the board made decisions that we kenw were coming," said Kristin White, convener of the community council, the Seabury-Western student body. "[Dean] Gary [Hall] has been very transparent in letting us know what the process was. While it wasn't a surprise, it was still deeply, deeply sad for this community."
White, who is a middler finishing her second year toward a Master of Divinity (MDiv), said the session gave students, staff and faculty the opportunity to learn more about the board's decision making process, and gave board members the chance "to live the responsibility" of their decision.
White has hope for Seabury's future but realizes the path for securing it is a long one. "While I am hopeful and I believe this body is hopeful for what the future holds for Seabury, we're not there yet," she said. "So we are acknowledging the reality that is very sobering right now."
White and most of the other MDiv. students will continue to graduation at Seabury, taking courses on campus from Seabury faculty during the fall 2008 and winter 2009 terms. After graduation in May 2009 she will return to her home diocese of Oregon to pursue her calling.
High costs and static enrollment are also concern for other seminaries
In February the board suspended admissions recruitment for its three-year residential master of divinity (MDiv) program, its master in theological studies (MTS), two doctor of ministry (DMin) and certificate programs. Students currently enrolled in the MDiv and DMin programs will be allowed to finish their degrees at Seabury. Some courses may be taken at other Chicago-area seminaries.
Seabury is not alone among the Episcopal Church’s 11 seminaries in facing financial challenges. In recent months Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, and Bexley Hall Seminary in Rochester, NY, announced decisions to sell property or consolidate operations in order to continue offering similar programs. Bexley Hall is consolidating its remaining program and students to Columbus, OH, where it will continue its MDiv program with Trinity Lutheran Seminary. EDS announced last month that it has sold some of its campus to Lesley University in order to remain in Cambridge.
All Episcopal and other mainline seminaries have faced rising costs and stagnant or declining enrollments for the past 30 years while higher education costs have accelerated. At Seabury, tuition is $13,000 while the actual cost per student has risen to more than $50,000. Sustaining that $37,000 expenditure gap over a period of more than two decades exhausted the seminary’s resources despite an increase in alumni/ae and other giving during the past few years.
In 2006 the board began a strategic planning process to identify ways to respond effectively to the shifts in the seminary market. Last October the case statement estimated at least $10 million would be needed to eliminate the current debt load and increase the endowment, while $8.7 million could be targeted program development and campus renovation to support any new programs. The $18.7 million goal significantly exceeded Seabury’s fundraising capabilities.
Declaring financial exigency – the technical term for determining a financial crisis that threatens the survival of the institution—allows the trustees to end faculty tenure and terminate faculty positions, resulting in immediate and long-term savings. Faculty will be given one year’s notice that their positions will end effective June 30, 2009. They will receive full salary and benefits in the 2008-2009 academic year and teach a reduced course load so that they have opportunity to search for a new position. Staff will have separation benefits that include severance pay, payment for unused vacation, continuation of health benefits, unemployment benefits, and career counseling. Nine of the 30 staff positions are being eliminated. These include: the admissions director, communications director, chaplain, academic affairs assistant, admissions coordinator, public and community relations coordinator, advancement officer, receptionist, and manager of the seminary's bookstore, The Bookshelf.
“Faculty understand the precarious financial situation of the seminary and have appreciated being consulted in the decisions leading to the board’s declaration of exigency,” said Dr. Ruth A. Meyers, academic dean and professor of liturgics. “While there is a range of emotion as they face an uncertain future, there is also tremendous good will and support for one another, for students and staff, and for the institution.” “Our primary work right now is caring for the people in the Seabury community whose lives are being dramatically disrupted,” Dean Hall said. “While we need to look to what Seabury might become in the future, we have focused almost all of our energies on the immediate concerns facing those around us.”
“Seabury is an amazing community, and this process is extraordinarily difficult for all of us involved,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Butler, vice president for advancement and administration. “While we understand the necessity of dismantling the current structure of our beloved institution, the reality of doing so causes profound grief on so many levels. It is difficult to have to say goodbye to faculty and staff.”
Salme Harju Steinberg, chair of the Board of Trustees, said the board members were impressed with the concern shown by students for the seminary’s staff and faculty during a community session April 24 following the special board meeting. “This was an unavoidable step that we are taking right now, but there is a real sense too that it is not over for Seabury,” she said. “From this will come a way to renew a sense of vision for what our role in theological education is going to be in the years ahead.”
The board is looking into having an outplacement service come to the seminary to assist staff and faculty with job searches, she said, noting that each trustee has the resume of one of the staff being laid off, and will be using their networks and contacts to setup job interviews for them. “Looking out for people right now in the community, this is the first step before we move on to imagining and building what we may become in the future,” she said.
At the same time the trustees have wrestled with controlling costs, they also have investigated future program options, including merging with another institution, offering non-residential programs, and distance learning.
The administration is optimistic that it can resume offering the doctoral programs in preaching and congregational development that have been a hallmark of Seabury for many years. The trustees plan to focus on future plans during the coming months.
Michael Barwell/David Skidmore
4/24/08
The trustees of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston today declared that the Episcopal seminary “is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution” and has given notice to all faculty that employment will end on June 30, 2009. The school also eliminated nine staff positions. The final date of employment for most of these staff will be May 23 – a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The trustees of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston have declared that the Episcopal seminary “is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution” and notified all faculty that employment will end on June 30, 2009. The school also eliminated nine staff positions. The final date of employment for most of these staff will be May 23 – a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The decision was the outcome of a special board meeting April 24 in which the trustees were presented with recommendations by a committee charged with reviewing the seminary’s finances. In February, the board was informed that income from tuition, fees, and endowment resources would be insufficient to overcome an ongoing deficit of nearly $500,000 per year. The seminary currently has an estimated $2.9 million in accumulated debt—likely to climb to $3.5 million later this year because of transition costs. The board ordered a financial plan that brings expenses in line with revenues.
“This is an especially painful and difficult decision to make and announce,” said the seminary’s dean and president, Gary Hall. “However, it became clear during the past 18 months that the seminary’s endowment and other income sources are not capable of sustaining a traditional residential seminary program.
“At its heart, Seabury will always be a school in service of the mission of God as proclaimed and enacted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Hall said. “We simply cannot sustain our mission with limited resources and by using a traditional model of ministry education.”
Immediately following the April 24 meeting, board members met with students, staff and faculty of Seabury-Western to hear their concerns and answer questions. The board also announced that Assistant Professor Frank Yamada had been granted tenure. Yamada has been on the faculty of Seabury-Western as assistant professor of Hebrew Bible since 1999.
Students and board members characterized the session as one of grief balanced with appreciation for the talent and dedication of the staff and faculty. Though few were surprised by the news of cutbacks, they still were profoundly saddened by the prospect of losing friends and mentors. "I think that the board made decisions that we kenw were coming," said Kristin White, convener of the community council, the Seabury-Western student body. "[Dean] Gary [Hall] has been very transparent in letting us know what the process was. While it wasn't a surprise, it was still deeply, deeply sad for this community."
White, who is a middler finishing her second year toward a Master of Divinity (MDiv), said the session gave students, staff and faculty the opportunity to learn more about the board's decision making process, and gave board members the chance "to live the responsibility" of their decision.
White has hope for Seabury's future but realizes the path for securing it is a long one. "While I am hopeful and I believe this body is hopeful for what the future holds for Seabury, we're not there yet," she said. "So we are acknowledging the reality that is very sobering right now."
White and most of the other MDiv. students will continue to graduation at Seabury, taking courses on campus from Seabury faculty during the fall 2008 and winter 2009 terms. After graduation in May 2009 she will return to her home diocese of Oregon to pursue her calling.
High costs and static enrollment are also concern for other seminaries
In February the board suspended admissions recruitment for its three-year residential master of divinity (MDiv) program, its master in theological studies (MTS), two doctor of ministry (DMin) and certificate programs. Students currently enrolled in the MDiv and DMin programs will be allowed to finish their degrees at Seabury. Some courses may be taken at other Chicago-area seminaries.
Seabury is not alone among the Episcopal Church’s 11 seminaries in facing financial challenges. In recent months Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, and Bexley Hall Seminary in Rochester, NY, announced decisions to sell property or consolidate operations in order to continue offering similar programs. Bexley Hall is consolidating its remaining program and students to Columbus, OH, where it will continue its MDiv program with Trinity Lutheran Seminary. EDS announced last month that it has sold some of its campus to Lesley University in order to remain in Cambridge.
All Episcopal and other mainline seminaries have faced rising costs and stagnant or declining enrollments for the past 30 years while higher education costs have accelerated. At Seabury, tuition is $13,000 while the actual cost per student has risen to more than $50,000. Sustaining that $37,000 expenditure gap over a period of more than two decades exhausted the seminary’s resources despite an increase in alumni/ae and other giving during the past few years.
In 2006 the board began a strategic planning process to identify ways to respond effectively to the shifts in the seminary market. Last October the case statement estimated at least $10 million would be needed to eliminate the current debt load and increase the endowment, while $8.7 million could be targeted program development and campus renovation to support any new programs. The $18.7 million goal significantly exceeded Seabury’s fundraising capabilities.
Declaring financial exigency – the technical term for determining a financial crisis that threatens the survival of the institution—allows the trustees to end faculty tenure and terminate faculty positions, resulting in immediate and long-term savings. Faculty will be given one year’s notice that their positions will end effective June 30, 2009. They will receive full salary and benefits in the 2008-2009 academic year and teach a reduced course load so that they have opportunity to search for a new position. Staff will have separation benefits that include severance pay, payment for unused vacation, continuation of health benefits, unemployment benefits, and career counseling. Nine of the 30 staff positions are being eliminated. These include: the admissions director, communications director, chaplain, academic affairs assistant, admissions coordinator, public and community relations coordinator, advancement officer, receptionist, and manager of the seminary's bookstore, The Bookshelf.
“Faculty understand the precarious financial situation of the seminary and have appreciated being consulted in the decisions leading to the board’s declaration of exigency,” said Dr. Ruth A. Meyers, academic dean and professor of liturgics. “While there is a range of emotion as they face an uncertain future, there is also tremendous good will and support for one another, for students and staff, and for the institution.” “Our primary work right now is caring for the people in the Seabury community whose lives are being dramatically disrupted,” Dean Hall said. “While we need to look to what Seabury might become in the future, we have focused almost all of our energies on the immediate concerns facing those around us.”
“Seabury is an amazing community, and this process is extraordinarily difficult for all of us involved,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Butler, vice president for advancement and administration. “While we understand the necessity of dismantling the current structure of our beloved institution, the reality of doing so causes profound grief on so many levels. It is difficult to have to say goodbye to faculty and staff.”
Salme Harju Steinberg, chair of the Board of Trustees, said the board members were impressed with the concern shown by students for the seminary’s staff and faculty during a community session April 24 following the special board meeting. “This was an unavoidable step that we are taking right now, but there is a real sense too that it is not over for Seabury,” she said. “From this will come a way to renew a sense of vision for what our role in theological education is going to be in the years ahead.”
The board is looking into having an outplacement service come to the seminary to assist staff and faculty with job searches, she said, noting that each trustee has the resume of one of the staff being laid off, and will be using their networks and contacts to setup job interviews for them. “Looking out for people right now in the community, this is the first step before we move on to imagining and building what we may become in the future,” she said.
At the same time the trustees have wrestled with controlling costs, they also have investigated future program options, including merging with another institution, offering non-residential programs, and distance learning.
The administration is optimistic that it can resume offering the doctoral programs in preaching and congregational development that have been a hallmark of Seabury for many years. The trustees plan to focus on future plans during the coming months.
4.24.2008
Seabury Gives Faculty Notice, Cuts Staff
April 24, 2008
EVANSTON, IL The Trustees of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary today declared that the Episcopal Seminary is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution and has given notice to all faculty that employment will end on June 30, 2009. The school also eliminated nine staff positions. The final date of employment for most of these staff will be May 23, a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The decision was the outcome of a special board meeting in which the trustees were presented with recommendations by a committee charged with reviewing the seminary’s finances. In February, the board was informed that income from tuition, fees, and endowment resources would be insufficient to overcome an ongoing deficit of nearly $500,000 per year. The seminary currently has an estimated $2.9 million in accumulated debt -- likely to climb to $3.5 million later this year because of transition costs. The board ordered a financial plan that brings expenses in line with revenues.
“This is an especially painful and difficult decision to make and announce,” said the seminary’s dean and president, Gary Hall. “However, it became clear during the past 18 months that the seminary’s endowment and other income sources are not capable of sustaining a traditional residential seminary program.”
“At its heart, Seabury will always be a school in service of the mission of God as proclaimed and enacted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Hall said. “We simply cannot sustain our mission with limited resources and by using a traditional model of ministry education.”
In February the board suspended admissions recruitment for its three-year residential master of divinity (MDiv) program, its master in theological studies (MTS), two doctor of ministry (DMin) and certificate programs. Students currently enrolled in the MDiv and DMin programs will be allowed to finish their degrees at Seabury. Some courses may be taken at other Chicago-area seminaries.
Seabury is not alone among the Episcopal Church’s 11 seminaries in facing financial challenges. In recent months Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, and Bexley Hall Seminary in Rochester, NY, announced decisions to sell property or consolidate operations in order to continue offering similar programs. Bexley Hall is consolidating its remaining program and students to Columbus, OH, where it will continue its MDiv program with Trinity Lutheran Seminary. EDS announced last month that it has sold some of its campus to Lesley University in order to remain in Cambridge.
All Episcopal and other mainline seminaries have faced rising costs and stagnant or declining enrollments for the past 30 years while higher education costs have accelerated. At Seabury, tuition is $13,000 while the actual cost per student has risen to more than $50,000. Sustaining that $37,000 expenditure gap over a period of more than two decades exhausted the seminary’s resources despite an increase in alumni/ae and other giving during the past few years.
In 2006 the board began a strategic planning process to identify ways to respond effectively to the shifts in the seminary market. Last October the case statement estimated at least $10 million would be needed to eliminate the current debt load and increase the endowment, while $8.7 million could be targeted program development and campus renovation to support any new programs. The $18.7 million goal significantly exceeded Seabury’s fundraising capabilities.
Declaring financial exigency – the technical term for determining a financial crisis that threatens the survival of the institution -- allows the trustees to end faculty tenure and terminate faculty positions, resulting in immediate and long-term savings. Faculty will be given one year’s notice that their positions will end effective June 30, 2009. They will receive full salary and benefits in the 2008-2009 academic year and teach a reduced course load so that they have opportunity to search for a new position. Staff will have separation benefits that include severance pay, payment for unused vacation, continuation of health benefits, unemployment benefits, and career counseling.
“Faculty understand the precarious financial situation of the seminary and have appreciated being consulted in the decisions leading to the board’s declaration of exigency,” said Dr. Ruth A. Meyers, academic dean and professor of liturgics. “While there is a range of emotion as they face an uncertain future, there is also tremendous good will and support for one another, for students and staff, and for the institution.”
“Our primary work right now is caring for the people in the Seabury community whose lives are being dramatically disrupted,” Dean Hall said. “While we need to look to what Seabury might become in the future, we have focused almost all of our energies on the immediate concerns facing those around us.”
“Seabury is an amazing community, and this process is extraordinarily difficult for all of us involved,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Butler, vice president for advancement and administration. “While we understand the necessity of dismantling the current structure of our beloved institution, the reality of doing so causes profound grief on so many levels. It is difficult to have to say goodbye to faculty and staff.”
At the same time the trustees have wrestled with controlling costs, they also have investigated future program options, including merging with another institution, offering non-residential programs, and distance learning.
The administration is optimistic that it can resume offering the doctoral programs in preaching and congregational development that have been a hallmark of Seabury for many years. The trustees plan to focus on future plans during the coming months.
For more information, contact the Rev. Elizabeth Butler at 847-328-9300.
EVANSTON, IL The Trustees of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary today declared that the Episcopal Seminary is in (a state of) financial crisis that threatens survival of the institution and has given notice to all faculty that employment will end on June 30, 2009. The school also eliminated nine staff positions. The final date of employment for most of these staff will be May 23, a week after graduation and the school’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The decision was the outcome of a special board meeting in which the trustees were presented with recommendations by a committee charged with reviewing the seminary’s finances. In February, the board was informed that income from tuition, fees, and endowment resources would be insufficient to overcome an ongoing deficit of nearly $500,000 per year. The seminary currently has an estimated $2.9 million in accumulated debt -- likely to climb to $3.5 million later this year because of transition costs. The board ordered a financial plan that brings expenses in line with revenues.
“This is an especially painful and difficult decision to make and announce,” said the seminary’s dean and president, Gary Hall. “However, it became clear during the past 18 months that the seminary’s endowment and other income sources are not capable of sustaining a traditional residential seminary program.”
“At its heart, Seabury will always be a school in service of the mission of God as proclaimed and enacted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Hall said. “We simply cannot sustain our mission with limited resources and by using a traditional model of ministry education.”
In February the board suspended admissions recruitment for its three-year residential master of divinity (MDiv) program, its master in theological studies (MTS), two doctor of ministry (DMin) and certificate programs. Students currently enrolled in the MDiv and DMin programs will be allowed to finish their degrees at Seabury. Some courses may be taken at other Chicago-area seminaries.
Seabury is not alone among the Episcopal Church’s 11 seminaries in facing financial challenges. In recent months Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, and Bexley Hall Seminary in Rochester, NY, announced decisions to sell property or consolidate operations in order to continue offering similar programs. Bexley Hall is consolidating its remaining program and students to Columbus, OH, where it will continue its MDiv program with Trinity Lutheran Seminary. EDS announced last month that it has sold some of its campus to Lesley University in order to remain in Cambridge.
All Episcopal and other mainline seminaries have faced rising costs and stagnant or declining enrollments for the past 30 years while higher education costs have accelerated. At Seabury, tuition is $13,000 while the actual cost per student has risen to more than $50,000. Sustaining that $37,000 expenditure gap over a period of more than two decades exhausted the seminary’s resources despite an increase in alumni/ae and other giving during the past few years.
In 2006 the board began a strategic planning process to identify ways to respond effectively to the shifts in the seminary market. Last October the case statement estimated at least $10 million would be needed to eliminate the current debt load and increase the endowment, while $8.7 million could be targeted program development and campus renovation to support any new programs. The $18.7 million goal significantly exceeded Seabury’s fundraising capabilities.
Declaring financial exigency – the technical term for determining a financial crisis that threatens the survival of the institution -- allows the trustees to end faculty tenure and terminate faculty positions, resulting in immediate and long-term savings. Faculty will be given one year’s notice that their positions will end effective June 30, 2009. They will receive full salary and benefits in the 2008-2009 academic year and teach a reduced course load so that they have opportunity to search for a new position. Staff will have separation benefits that include severance pay, payment for unused vacation, continuation of health benefits, unemployment benefits, and career counseling.
“Faculty understand the precarious financial situation of the seminary and have appreciated being consulted in the decisions leading to the board’s declaration of exigency,” said Dr. Ruth A. Meyers, academic dean and professor of liturgics. “While there is a range of emotion as they face an uncertain future, there is also tremendous good will and support for one another, for students and staff, and for the institution.”
“Our primary work right now is caring for the people in the Seabury community whose lives are being dramatically disrupted,” Dean Hall said. “While we need to look to what Seabury might become in the future, we have focused almost all of our energies on the immediate concerns facing those around us.”
“Seabury is an amazing community, and this process is extraordinarily difficult for all of us involved,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Butler, vice president for advancement and administration. “While we understand the necessity of dismantling the current structure of our beloved institution, the reality of doing so causes profound grief on so many levels. It is difficult to have to say goodbye to faculty and staff.”
At the same time the trustees have wrestled with controlling costs, they also have investigated future program options, including merging with another institution, offering non-residential programs, and distance learning.
The administration is optimistic that it can resume offering the doctoral programs in preaching and congregational development that have been a hallmark of Seabury for many years. The trustees plan to focus on future plans during the coming months.
For more information, contact the Rev. Elizabeth Butler at 847-328-9300.
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