Newcomb College, a women’s liberal arts college in New Orleans, will remain closed after a judge dismissed a suit seeking to compel Tulane University to resurrect the school, according to an article by John Pope of The Times-Picayune.
The coordinate women’s college of Tulane was closed in July 2006 as a way to cut costs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to Jeff Greer of U.S. News and World Report. The great-great-great niece of Josephine Louise Newcomb, the college’s founder, is the plaintiff in the suit. She argued that closing the school violated the terms of the founder’s gift. The judge ruled, however, that the founder’s will had no specific language barring Newcomb from being closed.
Columbia’s Stephens College, which is also a women’s liberal arts school, has had its own fair share of economic troubles. Unlike Newcomb, however, Stephens is not a coordinate college, and it therefore stands on its own as an educational institution.
As previously reported by the Missourian, Stephens chose to sell Stephens Lake Park in December 1998 in order to try and regain its economic footing.
Also around that time, many community members began to look unfavorably on Stephens; this was due, at least partially, to Stephens not keeping up many historic buildings on campus, according to the Missourian.
The downturn climaxed when President Marcia Kierscht resigned in September 2002, later receiving a vote of no confidence from the faculty. In July 2003, Wendy Libby took over the position of president and launched her “Renaissance Plan,” which successfully pulled Stephens out of financial crisis.
Tia LaFavor, 21, an equestrian business management major at Stephens, said it is a tragedy that Newcomb is closing and hopes nothing of that sort ever happens at Stephens.
“I would be very upset and angry,” LaFavor said. “Personally, it would completely ruin everything I have planned.”
C. Stephenson, 19, is a sophomore majoring in business at Stephens. She said she understood why Newcomb closed.
“I think due to the economic situation, it’s necessary,” Stephenson said. “It’s easier for the college as a whole.”
Like LaFavor, Stephenson also hopes Stephens is never forced to close.
“I would feel disappointed,” she said, “and as students, we should do all we can to keep it open.”
Stephenson said she thinks women’s colleges are important because of the unique learning environment they offer to women.
“It gives women the chance to grow together and to discover who they are,” she said.
LaFavor, who is now a senior, said she initially did not want to go to a women’s college, but chose Stephens because of its basketball and equestrian programs, both of which she is involved in.
“It’s the best place to be,” she said. “This is a very close-knit community, and I would never choose another school.”
As previously reported by the Missourian, Libby left Stephens in June 2009 to become president of Stetson University in Florida. Dianne Lynch was selected as the new president of Stephens; she is the former dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in New York.
Newcomb College was NOT closed for financial reasons. At the time of Hurricane Katrina, Newcomb had more than 2,000 women students and was financially healthy. Tulane has never claimed otherwise.
Tulane swept Newcomb into a “renewal plan” that also closed its School of Engineering. The reason given was to achieve “consistency” (e.g., same honor code, same advising programs for all undergraduates). However, Tulane did not take into consideration the fact that Newcomb was the ONLY school in the university that was founded by a benefactor and endowed by a will.
Although the lower court judge denied plaintiff’s summary judgment motion, the option of an appeal is still available.
Please visit http://www.newcomblives.com to follow this important case.
For this post, I cited information written by Jeff Greer of U.S. News and World Report:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/paper-trail/2009/09/01/judge-rules-in-tulanes-favor-womens-college-to-stay-closed.html
According to his entry, Tulane University was in the process of “reconstructing its campus and restructuring operations” when Newcomb College was closed “to cut costs.”
Greer’s entry was part of The Paper Trail, which is a blog written by staff of U.S. News and World Report. According to the Web site, U.S. News staff sifts “through thousands of student newspaper headlines every day to bring you the latest, most important, or just plain weirdest news from campuses across the country.”
I hope that clarifies where I found some of my information.
Thank you for reading our blog,
Andrew C. Jenkins
Reporter, Columbia Missourian
You might also have mentioned that Newcomb College was created as a department of Tulane University, not as a separate institution, and that women students’ lifestyle on campus was completely incorporated into the male undergraduate component (admissions, co-ed classes, co-ed dorms, shared faculty) several decades before Katrina occurred. No students were kicked out of school or turned away. No buildings were shuttered (unless they sustained hurricane damage).
So in reality, the only thing that “closed” for Newcomb was its ability to give out diplomas saying “Newcomb College of Tulane University” (what the diplomas said before the storm) rather than “Newcomb-Tulane College of Tulane University” (which is what they say now), and the fact that there had been a Newcomb Dean before the storm, but not now. More money is now being spent on women’s programming through the Newcomb College Institute than had been previously spent on women’s programming, so the net value to current female students has increased.
The loss is truly “in name only”.