Editor’s note: This commentary is by Charles Bergmann, an architect in South Newfane.
The Vermont Attorney General is reviewing the Marlboro College/Emerson College merger. Over the past five years Marlboro College has seen a decline in annual net operating income from $4,808,517. to $1,980,701, but reduced net operating expenses only from $15,372,946 to $13,895,506 – a recipe for failure.
Eighty educational institutions were approached about merging with Marlboro — only two responded, so an advantageous merger was unlikely. Marlboro’s leadership agreed to a merger with Emerson in which Marlboro donates a $30 million endowment and sells a $10 million campus for Emerson in exchange for Emerson agreeing to hire perhaps 20 Marlboro professors and accept the few students who wish to attend Emerson. Marlboro loses valuable books and papers which are key to its heritage.
Marlboro was founded 74 years ago to educate students in a very personal and classical way. Emerson, more like a trade school, is a city school, while Marlboro is a village rural school. Despite much effort from alumni and supporters, Marlboro College leadership has refused to divulge meaningful information about how this problem came about and what solutions were examined.
The Marlboro leadership appears to be influenced by the Boston consulting firm EY – Parthenon, which may have ties to Emerson and an agenda not appropriate to the ideals of Marlboro. Since 1946, Marlboro College has benefitted from the dedication of benefactors, teachers, staff and students, and has added greatly to this small village and Vermont, which has in recent years seen the closing of four colleges. These closings contribute to the view of Vermont as a failure state.
It is very unjust to the legacy of those who have given support to Marlboro College to allow this merger to occur. I have seen and been part of efforts to turn around difficult situations such as the saving of the Pike Place Market, the Pioneer Square District and the Madison Valley District when I lived in Seattle.
When Leon Botstein became president of Bard College around 1987, the school was struggling and had an endowment of $30 million — today with Leon Botstein still there, Bard has an endowment of $267 million. New and small Thomas Aquinas College in Northfield, Massachusetts, following a Jesuit education model, is more than meeting student goal numbers. Leadership makes a difference.
Marlboro College should commit to another five years where it is. Expenses should be reduced such that net operating loss does not exceed $6 million. That money may be found through a combination of donations, endowment income and the use of some endowment principal. Projections note about 20 million students annually over the next several years and with a disciplined curriculum and effort to attract, it should be possible to find the 200 or so students that Marlboro needs to survive. Will and perseverance are far more important here than money obstacles.
In my heart, what drives me to oppose the merger is the school’s importance to the town of Marlboro and the many fine people I have known connected to Marlboro College. A school that can produce people like Dan Darrow is worth saving to continue to serve new students, faculty, staff, the town of Marlboro and Vermont.
