Higher Education Quick Takes

Lindenwood University in Missouri is expanding its reach with the acquisition of for-profit Dorsey College, a vocational school in Michigan, the St. Louis Business Journal reported Thursday.

Lindenwood Education System, the parent entity for Lindenwood University, is the official purchaser in the deal, and the two institutions will maintain separate accreditation. A university news release indicates that the purchase of Dorsey College is part of a larger plan “to build a network of schools with complementary educational programs that can provide life-long education leading to career advancement.” Lindenwood officials intend to convert Dorsey College into a nonprofit institution, which will require approval from the Department of Education.

“We believe the Lindenwood Education System is the beginning of a new network of schools that will attract students by providing them with a solution for lifelong learning that will enable them to achieve their personal and professional goals,” Linwood University president John Porter said.

Dorsey College has eight campus locations across Michigan, including a cosmetology school, according to its website. The college, founded in 1934, offers programs in fields such as health care, skilled trades, the culinary arts, emergency medical services and cosmetology.

Lindenwood officials did not provide the purchase price for the acquisition of Dorsey College.

Florida professors at public four-year universities will face posttenure review every five years, under rules adopted Wednesday by the Florida Board of Governors, Florida Phoenix reported.

Each university’s board will now come up with ways to measure faculty members’ “productivity” under the rule.

The change was opposed by American Association of University Professors, the American Psychological Association, the Modern Language Association and the American Historical Association, among others.

“The way that many of our faculty are looking at it is that this is intentionally designed from the ground up to allow bad actors to cull faculty from departments with whom they personally disagree or who have politics that are inconvenient to the institution,” Andrew Gothard, president of United Faculty of Florida, told the Phoenix. “Or, as we’ve seen with the narrative that’s been coming out of Tallahassee, who have politics that disagree with those of the governor,” he added.

Could a Republican politician soon be taking the helm of another Florida university?

Florida representative Randy Fine said recently that Republican governor Ron DeSantis has pitched him on the presidential post at Florida Atlantic University, Florida Today reported. Fine, who has served in the Florida House of Representatives since 2016, said that DeSantis has approached him about taking the position, but he has not yet formally applied for the role.

Fine’s term is set to end next year, but he has already filed to run for a State Senate seat.

If hired, Fine would be the third former Republican politician tapped to lead a Florida university in recent months. Former U.S. senator from Nebraska Ben Sasse was hired as president of the University of Florida in November and formally stepped into the job in February. Richard Corcoran, a former Republican Speaker of the House in Florida’s Legislature who also served as the state’s education commissioner and as a member of the Florida Board of Governors, was hired as interim president of the New College of Florida in February, following a restructuring of NCF’s board, with DeSantis appointing conservative trustees who pushed out the prior president.

Similarly, former Republican state lawmaker and DeSantis ally Ray Rodrigues was hired from a pool of only eight candidates as chancellor of the State University System of Florida in September.

FAU is currently led by an interim president, with a presidential search ongoing. Fine’s interest in the job is unclear given that he told Florida Today that he is currently “focused on the Legislature.”

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education has issued a show cause order to the King’s College in New York City, which has faced recent financial issues and possible closure.

The accreditor issued the show cause order Wednesday, noting that there was “insufficient evidence that the institution is in compliance” with MSCHE standards on “planning, resources, and institutional improvement.” The show cause order is due April 18 and must demonstrate that the King’s College “has achieved and can sustain ongoing compliance with commission’s standards, requirements, policies and procedures, and federal compliance requirements.”

MSCHE previously required the college to submit a teach-out plan.

The King’s College, a private Christian university on Wall Street, announced earlier this year that it needed $2.6 million to meet its “immediate needs.” The college has attributed its financial struggles to issues related to the coronavirus pandemic and economic challenges. However, the King’s College has also experienced the loss of major donors in recent years, who previously plugged a persistent budget deficit and launched an ambitious online expansion plan that was soon aborted.

The fate of the college remains unclear after the end of the current academic year.