Member News

Bennington College (VT) will sell works of art from its collection to help kick off a new scholarship program.  The College will auction five pieces at Christie’s — including a large abstract work by the painter Helen Frankenthaler, a graduate of Bennington College.  College President Mariko Silver said the college hopes the sale encourages donors to contribute their artwork to support the new scholarship program, Art for Access.

Elmira College (NY) hopes to make higher education more affordable in the future.  Starting with the 2019-20 academic year, Elmira College will reset its tuition and fees from the current $41,900 to $35,400 for all new and returning full-time undergraduate students, a 15 percent decrease.  The change is designed to narrow the gap between the published tuition rate and the anticipated amount families will pay.

St. Bonaventure University (NY) has rescinded the honorary degree it bestowed on former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who resigned from the College of Cardinals in July amid allegations he sexually abused minors and adults.  The university’s Board of Trustees voted Friday to rescind the honorary doctorate of humane letters it award to McCarrick at commencement ceremonies in May 2011.

Facing mounting criticism over news of a new endowed chair for Michael Simons, a professor of medicine found to have sexually harassed a postdoctoral researcher, Yale University (CT) said in a statement that “we agree that in cases where someone has been found, through a formal process, to have violated university standards of conduct, there should be a presumption against awarding new honorifics.” Recent “announcements about a specific circumstance may appear to be at odds with these statements,” however, Yale said, noting that Simons was awarded the Robert W. Berliner Professorship of Medicine in 2008. 

Amherst College (MA) has received a gift of $50 million by an anonymous donor as part of its comprehensive campaign, Promise: The Campaign for Amherst’s Third Century. This gift, along with a $100 million gift from an anonymous alumnus announced at the campaign’s launch in April, has provided a strong base for the College’s goal of raising $625 million over the next five years.