OAKLAND — Holy Names University, a prominent Roman Catholic co-ed university, announced Monday that it will close after its spring semester ends next May, ending decades of service to and opportunity for East Bay students.
Just last week, the university cancelled its National Collegiate Athletics Association athletics program, issuing layoff noticies to 32 employees effective late next month and early February.
In statements, university representatives laid out multiple factors that led to the harrowing move, pointing in part to the impacts of shifting economic conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic that have affected other higher-learning institutions such as Mills College.
“While we are focused on the business of our fiduciary responsibilities, this is also very personal and difficult, but we are focused on what we need to do to support our students and minimize adverse impacts on our faculty and staff,” Holy Names board of trustees president Steven Borg said Monday.
“We’ve been working very hard to have a different outcome and our process was full of integrity, but it was time to make this decision.”
Borg called the headwinds in higher education “profound,” and pointed to both the pandemic and rising costs’ effects on the university and other smaller, liberal-arts institutions.
“We serve a large percentage of students who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and the economic downturn. Many of them are from underserved communities. They’re first-generation college students. They’re students of color,” he said. “The way we’ve served them is to provide scholarships and increasingly, the need for financial aid and scholarships has been growing exponentially to a point where it was a challenge for us to keep up with that, just as it’s a challenge for many of the students.”
The university also undertook additional moves over the years, including weighing a possible campus-sharing arrangement with Samuel Merritt College in 2017, and announcing a test-options admissions policy for undergraduates last year.
After a nationwide search by Holy Names to seek partners for long-term collaboration drew limited interest, the board plans to work with Dominican University of California as a designated transfer institution, allowing ongoing students to continue academic programs, as well as considering faculty and staff placements on its San Rafael campus.
“We feel that Dominican is a place where our liberal-arts tradition and the value that we place on every individual and developing each individual to their potential will continue,” Borg said in part Monday.
In a statement, Dominican University president Nicola Pitchford agreed: “The missions and degree offerings of our two institutions are beautifully aligned, [a]nd our student populations are similar — Dominican has demonstrated success in supporting students of all backgrounds, so we know we are well prepared to help Holy Names students thrive. We look forward to inviting Holy Names University’s continuing students to a new, vibrant and inclusive home in San Rafael.”
Undergraduate and graduate nursing students able to complete studies by the spring semester’s end will graduate from Holy Names. Ongoing talks were expected to continue for the university’s Kodály Music Program, while the Raskob Learning Institute and Day School is expected to begin independent operation or partner with another institution after the school year.
Holy Names’ aid efforts depended largely upon tuition and residence-hall revenue. According to numbers shared Monday, the university had enrolled 520 undergraduate and 423 graduate students this fall, but only 449 total students for the spring semester. HNU, which extends significant institutional aid, is dependent upon tuition and residence hall revenue.
In Monday’s statement, Borg added that “there is not only $49 million in debt on HNU’s property, but as a 65-year old campus the costs of deferred maintenance and compliance upgrades could be over $200 million. That is a large undertaking for any college or university.”
Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland leader Bishop Michael Barber shared his sorrow at news of the closure.
“This unfortunate situation is occurring at small colleges throughout the United States. I fully support the actions of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, the HNU Board, its chair and president, who have kept me and my advisors apprised of the difficult situation they face,” Barber said in part.
“For more than 150 years, the Sisters have been helping spread the message of the gospel and have brought mercy to action in Oakland and our community. Holy Names has educated generations of new leaders who have and continue to contribute to the vibrancy of our community.”
Holy Names, was founded in 1868 as the Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart on Lake Merritt’s shores by a half-dozen members of Sisters of the Holy Names, a Quebec, Canada-based teaching order. The school moved to its Mountain Boulevard location in the Oakland hills in 1957.
In an Oakland City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, council members Carroll Fife and Rebecca Kaplan were set to co-sponsor a resolution urging support for efforts to remain independent, noting that nearly 80 percent of Holy Names’ student body were “Black and Brown first generation college students,” as well as the university’s top-10 ranking for campus ethnic diversity and top-20 rank in the social-mobility category among western regional universities, according to U.S. News and World Report’s Best College Guides.
Borg spoke fondly of that legacy of uplifting students and meeting missions of service Monday.
“Holy Names University is a place where students can experience success and develop as leaders,” he said. “Regardless of where they come from, what their background, when we graduate from Holy Names, we’re ready to be leaders in the world and we’re ready to be values-based leaders. A big part of the mission is the charism of the Sisters of the Holy Names, who absolutely uplift the value and dignity of every person, and it permeates everything we do. There’s great affection for the sisters who have taught us how to work and live and collaborate.”
Staff writers Katie Lauer and Harry Harris contributed to this report. Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
Source: www.mercurynews.com