Member News

The California Institute of the Arts will become the parent institution of the Vermont College of Fine Arts under a recent deal reached by the two private nonprofits, VCFA announced Tuesday. Under the deal, VCFA will become a wholly owned subsidiary of CalArts. The two institutions will remain academically separate, with their own accreditation, trustee boards, faculty, degree programs and academic standards, a spokesperson for CalArts said on behalf of both institutions. Like many other small colleges, VCFA has seen enrollment declines over the past few years and has frequently run annual deficits. The institution said it sought to partner with CalArts because of the “extensive and dedicated resources” that it could offer. 

Connecticut College is set to get a new president after a nearly year-long search. Andrea Chapdelaine, president of Hood College in Frederick, MD, was unanimously appointed by Connecticut College’s Board of Trustees this week. Chapdelaine, a Chicopee, Mass. native, has been president of Hood College since 2015.  Chapdelaine will begin her tenure on July 1, 2024.

Oak Point University, a healthcare-focused institution in Chicago, will shutter next month, giving students little forewarning. Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, said Wednesday it established a teach-out agreement to accept students of the closing university, and all credits earned toward a degree at Oak Point will transfer. In recent years, Oak Point has faced declining enrollment and increased monitoring from the state nursing board and its accreditor.

Vanderbilt University (TN) police arrested students and one local reporter Wednesday, following student protests concerning divestment from Israel, The Tennessean reported. A group of 25 students entered Kirkland Hall, where university chancellor Daniel Diermeier’s offices are located, on Tuesday and remained for over 22 hours. Vanderbilt police officers entered early Wednesday morning and forced them out, according to reporting from The Vanderbilt Hustler, the student newspaper.
 

Birmingham-Southern College, a private liberal-arts institution plagued by more than a decade of financial problems, will close its doors at the end of May, the college announced Tuesday. The announcement follows an unsuccessful 18-month effort to keep the college afloat through a state loan program. The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the 168-year-old college after the institution exhausted efforts to secure a $30-million loan through a state program that was created in June 2023 as a result of the institution’s advocacy, said Daniel B. Coleman, the college’s president.