Union Institute & University (UI&U) was a privateonline university that was headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It also operated satellite campuses in Florida and California.[1]
In early 2023, it began to publicly experience severe financial challenges. Federal financial aid was cut off, it did not pay employees for many months, and it was evicted from its headquarters in Cincinnati for failing to pay rent. The university was accredited by the Higher Learning Commission but resigned its accreditation effective June 25, 2024.[2][3] It closed permanently on June 30, 2024.[4][5]
Samuel Baskin, a psychologist and educational reformer who served on the faculty of Stephens and Antioch colleges, was the founding president of the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities, Union Graduate School, and the University Without Walls. Margaret Mead, an anthropologist and author, was one of the institution's first professors.[8]
Renamed in 1969 as the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities, it focused on providing educational opportunities for non-traditional students whose needs were best served by a low-residency college experience, as well as those students who sought to conduct socially relevant research in an interdisciplinary manner.
The Union Graduate School's doctoral programs were based on the British tutorial system and the first doctoral students were admitted in 1970.[9] From its inception, the institution had a continuing emphasis on social relevance and interdisciplinarity of research.
By 1971, five more colleges and universities joined the Union, bringing the total consortium to 22 schools of higher education.[10] In 1975, the number of colleges in the University Without Walls network reached 34.[11] In 1976, the offices moved from Yellow Springs, Ohio, where Antioch College was located to Cincinnati.[12]
The Union of Experimenting Colleges and Universities, or UECU, disbanded in 1982, but the University Without Walls remained in operation[13] after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984.[14] In 1989, the University Without Walls was renamed The Union Institute.[15]
Vermont College acquisition and spin-off
The Union Institute acquired Vermont College in Montpelier, Vermont, from Norwich University in 2001.[16] The purchase of Vermont College added several master's degree programs and an adult degree program to the Union's existing undergraduate and doctoral programs. This enabled The Union to provide a progression of degree opportunities, along with certificates in advanced graduate study. In October 2001, the Union Institute was renamed "Union Institute & University". In 2008, fine arts programs from Vermont College were spun off from Union into the newly independent Vermont College of Fine Arts.[17]
Early 2000s academic issues
Union Institute & University's PhD program came under scrutiny by the Ohio Board of Regents, culminating in a reauthorization report published in 2002.[18] In response to the report, Union underwent major academic and structural changes, including dissolution of the Union Graduate School and restructuring of its PhD programs. The PhD in Arts and Sciences, for example, was redesigned as a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, with four majors: Ethical and Creative Leadership, Public Policy and Social Change, Humanities and Culture, and Educational Studies, and offers a specialization in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Studies.[18] In 2004 the U.S. Department of Education also raised concerns about the quality of the institute's PhD programs.[19]
2023 financial distress
Union Institute began to publicly experience severe financial distress in March 2023 when salaries owed to university staff were paid late.[20]
Throughout 2023, the university continued to exhibit signs of financial distress including further delayed wages and being locked out of its headquarters. Some university staff filed a class action lawsuit against the university alleging that the delayed wages violate labor laws.[21] The lawsuit was settled in March 2024 for $110,000.[22]
The start of the fall 2023 semester was delayed from August to November,[23] and then cancelled completely on November 15.[24][25] In October, fifty doctoral students at Union signed a letter saying that the president of Union, Karen Schuster Webb, "should resign" and that the entire board of trustees should be replaced.[26]
Union was also placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 by the U.S. Department of Education, a status that imposes oversight over its federal financial aid.[27] In late November, they revoked Union's ability to receive federal financial aid and also fined the university $4.3 million, alleging that Union collected more federal funding that it was supposed to collect and failed to refund the federal government.[28][29][30] In addition, the Education Department reported that the Institute had failed to refund more than $750,000 in student financial aid that had been required.[31]
As a consequence of being placed on heightened cash monitoring status, the Higher Learning Commission, Union's accreditor, "assigned a Financial Distress designation to Union."[32][33]
In December 2023, a teach-out plan was announced between Union and Antioch University for two master's degree programs and a doctoral program.[34][22] An additional teach-out plan was signed with Lasell University in Massachusetts.[35]
Closure
In May 2024, the institute was placed on "Administrative Probation" by the Higher Learning Commission for failure to pay annual dues to the accrediting body.[36] Shortly thereafter, Union's leaders announced that the institution would resign its accreditation effective June 25, 2024[35][3] and close entirely on June 30.[4][5]
Despite its June 30, 2024 closure, Union Institute is still attempting to collect past due tuition payments and withholding transcripts of students who refuse to pay.[37][38]
In November 2024, former students reported that months after the closure they were still unable to get transcripts from the shuttered institution.[39]
Campus locations
Originally, instruction was provided as a low-residency model at the constituent colleges of the organization.
In 2021, it moved into a rented building at 2090 Florence Avenue in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati to serve as its headquarters, which by July 2023, the university was behind on rent "to the tune of more than $367,000."[40][41] In August 2023, the university was locked out of its Cincinnati headquarters and was evicted on November 9, 2023.[42][43]
^Fairfield, Roy P. (Spring 1972). "To Bury the Albatross?". Journal of Research and Development in Education. 5 (3): 107–118. OCLC425483663. ERICEJ060984.
^Grady, J. (October 20, 1989), The Union Institute acquires a new name, a national historic landmark as its permanent home., Cincinnati, OH: The Union Institute
^Grady, J. (October 20, 1989). "The Union Institute acquires a new name, a national historic landmark as its permanent home". Cincinnati, OH: The Union Institute.
^education, Elaine Woo Elaine Woo is a Los Angeles native who has written for her hometown paper since 1983 She covered public; Local, Filled a Variety of Editing Assignments Before Joining “the Dead Beat”-News Obituaries – Where She Has Produced Artful Pieces on Celebrated; national; Figures, International; Mailer, including Norman; Child, Julia; in 2015, Rosa Parks She left The Times (2011-06-29). "Esther M. Broner dies at 83; Jewish feminist, novelist". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-01-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Barrett, Laurence; Bare, John K.; Hays, William L.; et al. (May 1972). Report of a Visit to the University Without Walls by the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities Yellow Springs, Ohio, May, 1972 for the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (Report). ERICED083909.
