Trustees of Ohio Valley University (OVU) in Vienna, West Virginia, have voted to close the 63-year-old Christian university.
OVU, which is associated with Churches of Christ, informed students, faculty and staff on Wednesday of the decision not to offer classes in the spring 2022 semester, President Michael Ross has confirmed.
“We strive to be an institution that conducts business with integrity while being good stewards of our resources,” Ross said. “Our current situation precludes us from doing that. I am proud of what we have accomplished and the changes we made to preserve the mission of the school. We hold our heads high knowing we did the right things for the right reasons.”
In a text message, he added: “As we struggled through this process, we have focused on the following Scripture: ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.’ Proverbs 3:5-6.”
While OVU has failed to make payroll since July, a donor who wishes to be anonymous has committed $900,000 to pay all employees their full salaries through the end of December, said Don Lallathin, the university’s director of philanthropy.
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“It feels good that we will be able to make payroll, and as we get into the Christmas season, we will be able to pay our employees,” Lallathin said.
OVU is working on a plan to help seniors finish their education at other schools, Ross said. The university hopes to offer a college fair Friday. Total enrollment had dipped below 200.
Last week, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission posted a Dec. 10 meeting agenda with a resolution urging revocation of OVU’s authorization to confer degrees in the state, effective June 30, 2022. That resolution was scheduled to be considered this Friday.
Ross said OVU informed the state commission and the Higher Learning Commission, one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States, of its decision.
An in-depth story in The Christian Chronicle last Friday detailed the financial challenges facing OVU and noted that payroll hadn’t been met in months as debt piled up.
This story was originally published at The Christian Chronicle.
Cheryl Mann Bacon is a Christian Chronicle correspondent who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University.
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2 Responses
Looking at the picture, I (sadly) knew immediately what had happened. As at Northland and Pillsbury, they had a big expansion in the 1990s during a peak of Christian colleges, and that was followed by a “bust” in Christian college enrollment. So sad to say, I’m guessing that this is going to be one of many closings in the next few years. “If you build it, they will come” played well on Field of Dreams, but it’s not good stewardship for a college.
I would dare suggest that in the future, Christian colleges will need to do a less capital-intensive method for instruction.
Very sad. I was part of a school, which had thrived in its past across cutting edge work, that was slowly strangled by changing circumstance and escalating financial difficulties. Such descent and closure hurts, and you never really get closure. Such hurt radiates out across a community.