Trusteeship - November/December 2021 - 39

lege experience provides. Among the evolving
options for students and institutions:
■ Online or hybrid, which the pandemic
has proven is viable and attractive when
designed well;
■ Certificate rather than degree programs,
as more employers stop requiring bachelor's
degrees;
■ Community colleges and technical institutes,
especially if the federal government
ultimately provides free community
college tuition for all (an example of a
similar program can be found in Connecticut,
where community college is free
to residents); and
■ On-the-job training and applied educational
benefits from employers while
students work full time.
Further, private colleges have for the
most part ignored the largest group of college
students in the United States: those
who are over 22 years old. Small private
colleges continue to focus their time, attention,
and resources almost exclusively on
incoming freshmen, which does a disservice
to the much larger pool of adult, nonresidential
students. Trustees at private colleges
must own up to their role in perpetuating
the myth that the only " real " college student
is the one fresh out of high school.
The first step as fiduciaries is to get the
facts and then to face up to uncomfortable
truths, wherever they may lead. All options
must be on the table for the future, beyond
seeking ever larger donations or relentlessly
raising tuition, room, and board prices.
These include mergers with stronger institutions,
affiliations with other schools to
collectively cut operating costs, generating
alternative sources of revenue through
serving a broader set of students by offering
modalities other than full-time residential
programs, or finding the strength to gracefully
close if no other option remains viable.
It is critical that boards plan and prepare
for disruption during such transformations
and should clearly define the desired outcomes
with their presidents. The board and
the president should also have written documentation
delineating the role, scope, and
authority of the President versus the board.
AGB.ORG
In doing so, I would advise using a thirdparty
facilitator such as AGB to get there in
order for the board to consistently support
the president, minimize backchannelling,
and accelerate innovative change.
Unity College, with its environmental
education mission and tiny endowment, has
found a revenue model that works for us
under the dynamic leadership of President
Melik Peter Khoury, despite the intense
grief expressed by some alumni and local
critics who bemoan the loss of the school's
traditional two-semester four-year residential
experience. We have demonstrated that
online education does not mean recorded
lectures and disaffected students. Unity
offers hands-on, experiential distance education
STEM coursework in the communities
Trustees at private colleges
must own up to their role
in perpetuating the myth
that the only " real "
college student is the one
fresh out of high school.
where the students live and work, and it creates
cohorts of students and instructors who
are deeply connected virtually in their shared
desire to make a difference in the world.
As a result, our student enrollment
outside of the on-campus program has
grown exponentially every year. Unity has
provided students, both traditional-age and
adult, with greater flexibility and accessibility
through shorter, more frequently offered
terms that are more affordably priced than
the traditional residential, two semesters
per year model. Doing so has the real-world
benefit of allowing our students to engage
in internships and professional work yearround,
not just during the summer.
The enrollment data for fall 2021 of
Unity's rising sophomores through seniors
who have been given a choice of returning
to campus full time or remaining as hybrid
students shows us clearly that most of Unity
College's hybrid students who were previously
enrolled in the full-time residential
program, pre-pandemic, do not want to
return to campus. Instead, under our flexible
and less costly hybrid option, many are
choosing to mix modalities, which allows
them to live, work, and study from their
communities across the United States when
they choose to do so and to come for face-toface
learning when they feel the time is right.
We still have more work to do, including
improving how we support virtual cohorts
and finding alternative uses for or sale of
physical assets we no longer need, but our
student-focused hybrid offering has encouraged
a new normal among our students:
that of choosing a combination of low-residency
and distance education that best
meets their needs. Unity College can also
hire highly skilled, innovative instructors
and curriculum designers to fulfill our academic
mission without regard to their willingness
to relocate to a rural Maine campus.
The difficult changes that are necessary
for many colleges to survive in the coming
years will not be easy on your internal or
external audiences. Resistance to change is
natural and coupling that change with strong
attachment to the traditional experience from
faculty as well as some alumni can and will
cause serious blowback. Many trustees may
choose an easier route, and in doing so likely
risk the closure of their institution rather
than adapt to changes in the marketplace for
college students. However, for me, the fear
of our institution closing far outweighs the
unease felt in the face of innovation. Know
that you are not making these decisions in
a vacuum, and that you are not alone in this
process. I wish you all the best as we navigate
these ever-more challenging waters.
Sharon Reishus is the board chair at
Unity College, located in New
Gloucester, Maine, with multiple
locations in Unity, Moose River,
Thorndike, and online. Unity College
is the first institution of higher education in the
nation to divest its endowment portfolio from fossil
fuel investments. Sustainability sciences lies at the
heart of its educational mission, offering
environmentally focused degrees to multiple
audiences. Email: sharon.reishus@gmail.com.
NOV.DEC.2021 TRUSTEESHIP 39
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Trusteeship - November/December 2021

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