wfn.org | Sue Bennett College Closes

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
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Note 485 by UMNS on Dec. 2, 1997 at 15:02 Eastern (3959 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green						  673(10-71B){485}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	    		Dec. 2, 1997

Sue Bennett College closes 
doors after losing accreditation
	
by United Methodist News Service

After 101 years of educating students, United Methodist-related Sue Bennett
College in London, Ky, closed its doors Nov. 26, the end of the fall semester.
The college was stripped of its accreditation Sept. 22 by Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools because of ongoing financial and administrative
problems. The school was notified in June that the association had recommended
its removal from its list of approved members. The trustees appealed the
decision and diligently worked to save the school - including launching a
fund-raising campaign - but the appeal was not successful. 
Without accreditation, no federal or state funds were available to Sue Bennett
students and the State of Kentucky withdrew the school’s license to teach,
effective Nov. 26, said the Rev. Jackson Brewer, Villa Hill, Ky., chairman of
the college’s board of trustees. 
"I and the board of trustees feel a great sense of loss and responsibility
that the accreditation was lost," Brewer said. "The easiest thing would been
to have closed the school in June after learning about the accreditation being
taken away but we felt that it was worth saving." 
"We wanted the school to survive," he said. "We believe the mission that led
Sue and Belle Bennett to found this school 101 years ago is still a viable
mission."
The four-year, independent liberal arts college is a mission project of the
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. The land and buildings are owned
by the Women’s Division, which allowed the school to use the property at no
cost. On Nov. 18, the college’s trustees notified the Women’s Division of the
school’s closing and returned to them the school’s lease and property.
	According to Ken Yamada, staff executive in the United Methodist Board of
Higher Education and Ministry, "It is very difficult to face the reality when
it comes to closing an educational institution which served people of the
region so well and fulfilled the mission of the denomination so faithfully for
the past 100 years. Sue Bennett College must be recognized and celebrated for
a job well done."
	Yamaha said the United Methodist Church and the predecessor denomination
established more than 1,200 educational institutions in the United States in
the past 200 years. Now, only 123 remain as United Methodist-related
educational institutions.
Students, faculty and staff of the college gathered in a convocation on Nov.
18 to say goodbye to their school and to celebrate the college’s 101 years of
service. They were informed of the future of Sue Bennett’s students,
especially the 20 who were scheduled to graduate in December.
Brewer told the gathering that the graduating students would receive their
degrees by the end of the year and area schools such as United
Methodist-related Lindsey Wilson College and Union College, have agreed to
transfer Sue Bennett’s remaining students, giving them credit for the past
semester. Nearby Cumberland and Hiwasse colleges also will receive Sue Bennett
students.
	Following the gathering, college trustees voted to keep six people on staff,
including president James Cheek, through the end of the year to take care of
correspondence and legal matters. 
	In other actions, trustees:
· made arrangements to care for the students’ files and records, the archival
material of the school and also the Appalachian history material; 
· will continue to meet through the immediate future making attempts to reduce
indebtedness owed to creditors; and
· conveyed to the Women’s Division their hope that arrangements can be made to
continue the mission of the school in some form on the Sue Bennett campus.
The Sue Bennett College Alumni Association will continue to function, caring
for the alumni.
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