An Article About TUFW's Final Commencement

One last hurrah for Taylor
Final class receives diplomas before school closes May 31

Kelly Soderlund
The Journal Gazette

The stages of grief were set into motion.

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression – Taylor University-Fort Wayne students and staff went through each feeling.

The October announcement that their university was closing as of May 31 forced the Taylor community to accept the fact that their lives were going in a different direction than they had thought.

“It’s been something like having a terminal illness,” said Roger Ringenberg, professor of Bible and intercultural studies. “We knew exactly the day the school would die.”

Students have to choose a different place to finish their college education. Saturday’s graduates are the last to receive diplomas reading “Taylor University-Fort Wayne.”

Instead of an alumni-filled, balloon-strewn homecoming scene this fall, there will be an empty campus. Come next week, about 120 faculty will leave the Christian university and campus on Rudisill Boulevard they’ve called home and either continue their employment search or be on to their next job.

University officials cited a poor business model and a downward spiral of enrollment as the chief causes for why they decided to close the Fort Wayne campus. Taylor’s main campus in Upland, where Fort Wayne students were encouraged to transfer, had to provide the Fort Wayne campus with $15 million since 1992 to make up for annual budget shortfalls.

With the decision to close, many feel they’ve reached that final stage of grief: acceptance.
“Either we could become really bitter and not enjoy the rest of this year and it could just flat line, or we could be really excited and just spend as much time with people as possible. And I would say that’s the way it’s gone,” said Jenni Ritschard, 19, junior.

But the story of Taylor-Fort Wayne is not over. A local company was hired to help determine the best use of the 30-acre, 17-building campus, which has an assessed value of nearly $17 million for nine parcels of land, according to the Allen County Assessor’s Office.

The Taylor campus sits between Fairfield Avenue and Broadway and is surrounded by a residential area. There are academic buildings, a library, residence halls and lawn areas for students.

The fate for the buildings has not been determined, and it’s unknown when a final decision will be made, said Matt Lesser, project assistant for Ambassador Family Enterprises, a company based in Fort Wayne that looks for businesses to invest in and operate.

Budget woes

The financial problems of Taylor-Fort Wayne were no secret to faculty, who for years watched enrollment tumble, said Randall Dodge, dean of students.

Taylor’s enrollment began at 410 students in the 1992-93 school year and peaked in 2002-03 with a fall headcount of 649 students.

Since then, the number of students has decreased each year, bottoming out at 429 undergraduate students for the 2008-09 school year. Fewer students equals less tuition dollars to support university operations.

“Every time enrollments aren’t meeting what the goals are, budgets take a hit,” said Dodge, who has been at the Fort Wayne campus for 12 years.

“We were not able to sell the product at the price the product had to be sold at in order to make ends meet. While I think that the product was a good product, costs in order to deliver the product had escalated to the point that it was difficult to find a customer base who could afford it.”

Tuition, room, board and fees at Taylor for an undergraduate student for the 2008-09 school year was $26,774, spokesman Jim Garringer said.

Taylor President Eugene Habecker, former Fort Wayne campus Chancellor Duane Kilty and Richard Gygi, president of the university board of trustees, all declined to comment for this article.

Habecker and Gygi said they did not have anything new to say regarding the closure, and Kilty, now chief financial officer at Indiana Wesleyan University, did not feel it was appropriate for him to comment considering he is no longer affiliated with the university.

God’s plan

Since October, students, faculty and staff at Taylor have asked themselves, what’s next? For about half the Taylor faculty and staff, it’s unknown.

Three professors have secured jobs at the Upland campus, and 16 of the 31 faculty members have found other employment, Dodge said. But the others are still looking, Dodge said. The same statistics apply to non-faculty, he said.

Ringenberg has been on the Rudisill campus for 26 years, through the days when it housed Fort Wayne Bible College and Summit Christian College. He thinks he’ll have a one-year position at the Upland campus, but otherwise doesn’t know what his employment future holds.

Students have had the option of applying to transfer to Upland or moving elsewhere.

“It’s definitely been a process, I would say,” said Jenni Ritschard, a junior who plans to finish her degree on the Upland campus. “The first day was really hard and the first week at least a lot of us were just crying and stuff and really sad.”

Ritschard will join between 70 and 95 other Taylor-Fort Wayne students in Upland, Dodge said. Ritschard’s decision was based on money and practicality, since she didn’t think her credits would transfer seamlessly to another university.

The remainder of the student body is choosing other educational paths, including Sarah Lachowicz, 21. The junior is moving to Minnesota to be with her fiancé and will complete her Taylor degree online.

“It was really hard, but I have since realized God has a bigger plan for it, and he’s going to spread us out and use us in bigger ways than we thought he was going to,” Lachowicz said. “I’m kind of excited now for all the options.”

The university’s online learning program will remain intact; it moved to the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center in March.

The WBCL Radio Network, currently on campus, will also remain. But it’s unclear whether it will continue to operate at its current location or move, said Matt Lesser, project assistant with Ambassador Family Enterprises.

In the coming weeks, Ambassador and Taylor officials plan to release a report with 15 criteria. Any proposal they receive for buying or taking over the campus must measure up to the list. Some faculty and neighbors have said they hope another educational institution moves in.
The neighborhoods surrounding Taylor have become attached to the campus and its viability and don’t want to see it become an eyesore in the community.

Bruce Lehman, president of the Oakdale Neighborhood Association, said Ambassador has not reached out to his group to gather the association’s advice on what should be done with the campus.

“We’re still quite concerned about these wonderful buildings sitting empty,” Lehman said. “Many of my neighbors … have expressed a concern over this happening at a time when we’re really working hard at taking care of the neighborhood and seeing it progress instead of regress.”
Saturday marked Taylor-Fort Wayne’s last commencement ceremony and the closing of what Dodge called a great year filled with celebration.

“Our theme is, ‘Where your calling takes place,’ ” Dodge said. “Where people’s sense of what God was calling them to do with their lives; where that kind of gelled in their minds and in their hearts here.

“That’s what the life of this place is. It’s not buildings, it’s not fields, it’s not classrooms. The life of this place is the connections people made here with a sense of purpose and passion and calling for how to make a difference in this world.”

Belated Bday

The arrival of Grammie Joyce last weekend also meant the arrival of a couple of belated birthday gifts from Oregon for Miss Melody . . .

Two for One

I'm doing such a terrible job of updating this blog, I should just give up. Oh well . . .

Sunday was a two-for-one day: Mother's Day and Phillip's 17th birthday, which actually was Monday but we celebrated early since his beloved father wouldn't be home that day. After dinner at Bandido's (okay, we won't do that again), we came home for birthday cake and gifts. I didn't get many good shots, but I do like this one:

Jordan chose an unusual package for his gift to Phillip:

Phillip opens his Disney gift card from Aunt Laura and Uncle Jamey in anticipation of our vacation next month:

It all concluded with the big gift from Jameson and me to Jeannette and Phillip. Jeannette couldn't imagine what we might be able to get that would be for both Phillip and her. Well, in a burst of practicality, Jamey and I bought them . . .

Three Teens Under One Roof

Today is Jameson's 13th birthday but we celebrated it yesterday because I needed to be back in Lincoln today. I apologize in advance for the paucity of pictures. I took plenty but they just didn't turn out. Apparently Calvin the Russian Tortoise needs a friend, so we got Jameson a new hermit crab . . .

His gifts included a giftcard and a swimsuit for our trip to Disney World and a big Lego Star Wars set . . .

More Junior Senior Pics

Phillip's mask made from CDs was a big hit . . .

Phillip went with several friends from the junior class . . .

The Three Amigos . . . Zach, Taylor and Jordan before the banquet . . .

Some random photos from the After After Party, followed by some pick-up basketball with Phillip's friends.

A Junior & a Senior Off to Junior-Senior

Tonight, the boys are out for Blackhawk Christian's Junior-Senior. Oh, and the After Party. And the After After Party. Followed by, for Phillip, a After After After Party Sleepover for the juniors where, allegedly, they will be studying for the practice AP US History test they are taking tomorrow. Right.

Phillip went with a group of five other juniors while Jordan asked a good friend of his, Jamie. He loves going to Jamie's house, at least in part because her dad has all the toys he likes to play with (e.g., a knife collection). I hadn't met Jamie until tonight when they stopped by to let us take a few photos and she seems like a very sweet girl.

Both boys were wearing clothes from my closet, mixed in with some of their own clothes. I told Phillip that the tie he was wearing is older than he is and Jordan's suit was made when Phillip was six months old.

This year's Junior Senior has a masquerade theme so Jeannette and Phillip made a very special mask for him to wear, one that reflects (no pun intended) his interests . . .

We sent the camera with Phillip so I'm hoping we'll get a few more pictures to post later this weekend.

Phillip Gets Inducted

Last night, Phillip was inducted into the National Honor Society at Blackhawk Christian. Jordan was invited to do the NHS paperwork, too, but since he had already been inducted back at Hosanna Christian and his life was kind of crazy, we didn't worry about it much. We have a lot to be thankful for and proud of with both boys, and the induction ceremony last night for Phillip was a nice reminder of this.