You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
The National Labor College, facing financial difficulties, has decided to sell its entire campus (located in the Washington suburbs), but officials insist that the institution has a viable future. The college -- the academic arm of the labor movement -- offers degree and certificate programs for leaders and future leaders of unions. Most programs are distance, but involve residencies, which have taken place on the campus. Paula Peinovich, the president, said in an interview that the decision was a "very hard" one. "The sale of the property is not something that the board of the college has chosen to do lightly," she added. "But faced with financial issues, the board is going to focus on the college." She said that the property will need to be rezoned to be sold to a developer, and that the process means that the college isn't relocating immediately. Eventually, she said that the residency portions of the college's programs would take place at union facilities or academic centers around the country.
The campus also includes a conference center, which will be sold, and the AFL-CIO archives, which are used by scholars of labor history. Peinovich said that the AFL-CIO owns the archives, and that the college is in discussion with the AFL-CIO about where the collections will go.
The National Labor College had thought it would gain a secure financial partnership through a partnership with the Princeton Review (a partnership some in academic labor questioned because of the concerns of many faculty members in the union movement about for-profit higher education). But the Princeton Review pulled out of that partnership in November.
