wfn.org | Union Seminary and PSCE to Vote on "Federation"

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

2-April-1997 
97148 
 
         Union Seminary and PSCE to Vote on "Federation" 
 
                          by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--A plan to join Union Theological Seminary in Virginia 
(UTS) and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education (PSCE) in what its 
proponents call "an administrative and educational partnership" is expected 
to be voted on by the boards of the two institutions in concurrent meetings 
May 2. 
 
     The plan proposes "federation" of the two schools under a single 
administration and board, with each retaining its own program of study. 
PSCE and UTS faculty would be members of a single "federated" faculty, with 
some responsibilities unique to each institution.  Students would be part 
of a united student body, but with separate degree programs, governance, 
social events and worship, as well as alumni organizations. 
 
     PSCE's board of trustees asked the UTS board to discuss the 
possibilities of joining the two schools administratively and 
organizationally in 1995 after several failed attempts to bring PSCE 
operating costs in line with annual giving. 
 
     "This is much like a university model," said Wayne Boulton, PSCE 
president, noting that downsizing staff and selling property has done 
little to resolve the 83-year-old institution's financial woes.  "A 
university might have a divinity school, a medical school, a law school, 
each with their own dean.  And on top of it all is a single administration 
and president. ... 
 
     "But it will be two distinct schools." 
 
     The plan now calls for Sibley Towner to remain as UTS's academic dean 
and James Brashler as PSCE's, with UTS president Louis Weeks named as 
president of the federated institution.  To save money, the plan 
consolidates other administrative offices, such as registrar, treasurer, 
dean of students and development. 
 
     The faculties of the two institutions, according to the plan, will 
continue to design and manage each school's specialist degrees, with any 
changes in the degree programs requiring approval of the full "federated" 
faculty and the board of trustees. The current boards of UTS and PSCE will 
be combined for three years to govern the "federated" institution, then 
board membership will be reduced. 
 
     The institution is tentatively called "Union Theological Seminary and 
the Presbyterian School of Christian Education." 
 
     A joint board committee was meeting at press time (April 2) to 
consider suggestions for improvement of the plan from faculty, alumni and 
other interested parties. 
 
     "I think [federation] really makes sense.  The time has come for 
federation," according to Weeks, who says the shift may even be 
"providential" since it is increasingly clear that education has not been 
valued enough in the wider church and that seminaries need to be fostering 
relationships between ministers and educators.  "Everything at PSCE focuses 
on how to teach and on how learners apply what they're taught.  That will 
make a significant contribution to the educational environment at Union. 
And what Union offers is a focus on the Bible and on the Reformed heritage. 
 ... 
 
     "Everybody who is connected with the leadership at UTS and PSCE will 
be working our hardest to maintain the identity of the schools. ... But," 
he said, "you don't engage in change without some kind of anxiety." 
 
     And there is anxiety.  Boulton, who says only half-jokingly that he 
has eliminated his own job to facilitate this federation, says that the 
history of institutional consolidations is "littered with absorptions," so 
concern is not unreasonable. "It took me two years to be converted.  When I 
came here, I believed the school had a freestanding, unconsolidated future. 
But it took one and a half to two years to learn certain realities about 
the school, about the market, about our capacity to increase funds ... and 
I became converted to the idea that the best future for the school is 
partnership," he said. 
 
      Many agree with PSCE Alumni/ai Council president Margaret Walker of 
Mount Olive, N.C., that federation is the "best available alternative" for 
the school.   She said she still has reservations about the proposal and 
she put those before the joint board committee, though she declined further 
public comment. 
 
     Probably no one articulates that mix of resignation and concern better 
than longtime PSCE professor of applied christianity and former PC(USA) 
moderator Isabel Rogers.  "For years," she said, emphasizing that she 
understands the benefits of the university pattern, "I've thought the two 
schools ought to work closer together. ... 
 
     "But every time a new plan comes out, it is looking more like merger 
rather than a loose federation in which the schools remain separate. [This 
plan,]" she said, acknowledging that she is appeased by the proposal's 
provision for an academic dean at each institution, "looks like one school 
with one faculty rather than two separate schools with separate faculties. 
 ... The question is going to become, How much authority will the separate 
faculties retain to make decisions about curriculum, about calling new 
people?" 
 
     Rogers told the Presbyterian News Service that her real fears have 
more to do with structural changes that could be made in two years when the 
current model is reevaluated.  "There is the apprehension that, at the time 
of evaluation, it might be [thought] to be more efficient to have one dean. 
That's a fear," she said, "but it's not beyond the realm of possibility. 
And I would view a move in that direction with alarm." 
 
     But Weeks is adamant that "so much energy" is being spent on 
negotiating this proposal precisely because the goal is "federation" and 
not merger.  "The beauty of the thing," he said, "is that it seeks to 
preserve some identity and enhance the mission of PSCE, over and against a 
merger and consolidation." 
 
     He said the proposal should "substantially inform the informal 
curriculum" of both schools, lending itself to distinctive worship 
opportunities, social events and curriculum that may be increasingly team 
taught. 
 
     UTS Alumni/ae Association president the Rev. Ted Wardlaw of Atlanta 
says that "federation" cannot help but impact the identities of both 
schools and that he hopes this is an opportunity to "forge a new identity" 
for both.  "Brook Road was an awfully wide road," he said, speaking of the 
highway that separates PSCE and UTS when he was a UTS student in the 
mid-1970s.  "But the truth is, [federation] is already happening. 
 
     "It's just been a back-door thing that's been going on for [a] good 
while." 

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