As Iowa Wesleyan’s era ends, students navigate next steps

MOUNT PLEASANT — On a frigid morning in early February, Iowa Wesleyan University freshmen Salena Blanchard and Malan Lemon loaded a minibus in hopes of participating in LGBTQ Day at the Iowa Capitol.

Only eight of them went along, including a faculty driver, and Lemon said some closed their eyes to pass the two-plus-hour drive to Des Moines.

“When everybody opened their eyes, we were sideways,” Iowa Wesleyan freshman Lemon, 20, said of the bus crash that derailed their trip and sent passengers to the hospital with minor injuries.

“People were breaking the top, the emergency exit, off the bus.”

Two months later, the students had a similar experience — at least metaphorically — when their academic trajectory was upended March 28. Both Blanchard, 19, and Lemon, 20, were asleep when Iowa Wesleyan administrators called an all-school meeting.

At that meeting, school officials announced the Board of Trustees had made the stunning, financially-motivated decision to end the historic campus’ 181-year run and close it this spring. The school first opened in 1842 — before Iowa was even a state.

“I was half asleep,” Blanchard said of the moment friends awoke her to tell her the news. “I was like, ‘Huh? What happened?’”

Emerging from his residence hall after learning of the coming closure, Lemon said, “Everybody was walking around campus just looking lost.”

“It was a few days before April 1, and I was like, ‘I hope they’re going to say April Fool's,’” Lemon said. “And they just never said it.”

As Wesleyan heads toward its last commencement from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday in Ruble Arena — named after Olan Ruble, who served as the head football coach, head basketball coach and head baseball coach in the 1940s — nearly 100 will cross the stage to collect a diploma.

In total, more than 120 of Wesleyan’s 878 students will graduate this spring, according to spokesman Meg Richtman, leaving 758 to find alternate academic plans. And everyone was told they must be out of their on-campus housing by Sunday.

That has students like Lemon and Blanchard juggling packing, moving, deep cleaning and checking their floors for messes that could get them fined — all while studying and finishing their finals.

“There’s a lot,” said Lemon, who also has regular physical therapy appointments following the bus crash. “We have like three appointments a week.”

Those appointments have kept him and Blanchard from doing any college visits to find a new school — even as institutions like Coe College and the University of Northern Iowa have invited displaced Wesleyan students to tour.

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New academic homes

In hopes of easing transfer tribulations for their hundreds of affected students, Iowa Wesleyan developed teach-out agreements with four institutions — allowing credits to transfer seamlessly and students to complete their programs on time and for a comparable cost. The teach-out schools include William Penn University in Oskaloosa; Upper Iowa University in Fayette; University of Dubuque; and Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo.

Lemon and Blanchard — in that they’re both from St. Louis — chose Culver-Stockton to complete their degrees in criminal justice, learning earlier this week they were accepted, albeit without them having ever seen the campus.

Wesleyan doesn’t have numbers to share of students who’ve found new academic homes — including at its teach-out institutions — given so many are in the process of deciding and applying. But Culver-Stockton College has heard from about 150 Wesleyan students “as a result of the teach-out agreement,” said spokeswoman Alyssa Hummel.

“Several students have visited and applied,” she said. “And a number of them have confirmed their intentions to join us in the fall.”

Although numbers vacillate daily, Upper Iowa reports about 80 Wesleyan students are in the inquiry and application stage, according to spokeswoman Lynette Brandt.

The University of Dubuque didn’t share numbers, but Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Mark Ward said the campus is in conversation with Wesleyan students to determine whether the institution is the best fit.

“Every student’s situation is different, and we talk with them to determine what is the best course of action for them,” he said. “We want these students to know that, even though their institution is closing, their educational goals are still within reach and we are here to help them make that determination and help them to better understand what options they have academically.”

Both Cornell College in Mount Vernon and Coe College in Cedar Rapids have created transfer scholarships for Wesleyan students — on top of aid already available.

Cornell President Jonathan Brand told The Gazette his administrators believe they can get very close to matching Wesleyan students’ financial aid awards and transferring many of their credits — in addition to a $1,000 Wesleyan-specific scholarship.

“We have dozens of Iowa Wesleyan students who are interested in coming to Cornell College,” spokeswoman Jill Hawk said. “They’re in the middle of going through the admission process right now.”

Graceland University — a private institution in Lamoni of about 1,244 students — isn’t among Wesleyan’s teach-out schools, although it did partner with Wesleyan in making a $48 million request for pandemic relief aid to be split among four private institutions.

Gov. Kim Reynolds denied Wesleyan the $12 million portion it sought, but hasn’t yet responded to the other three schools — including Graceland, which has connected with more than 60 Wesleyan students interested in transferring, according to spokesman Shane Adams.

“Several have already applied and made their deposit for the fall semester,” he said, acknowledging, “students found out about the closure of their university near the end of the semester and were somewhat overwhelmed by colleges in and out of the area who were clamoring to enroll them.”

“It’s likely that many of them will return home for the summer and speak with their families before they make a decision about what’s next,” he said. “And that is perfectly understandable.”

‘What’s the next step?’

Of Wesleyan’s 701 full-time undergraduates, 70 percent are athletes, and Adams said Graceland coaches “have been actively engaged in recruiting Iowa Wesleyan athletes as well.”

Juan Echeverria, 22, of Osceola, is one — having joined the Wesleyan track team this academic year as a freshman. He came not knowing anyone, but found fast friends in his teammates — making news of the school’s dissolution especially disappointing.

“I was like, ‘OK, what's the next step for me?’” Echeverria said. “The next step for me was to find another school, a place to run track. So I contacted some college coaches, and a coach hit me up from Graceland University, and that's where I'll be going next fall.”

Coe College, in learning of Wesleyan’s closure, established a $2,500-a-year transfer scholarship for its students, and spokeswoman Natalie Milke said nearly 30 Wesleyan students are coming to Coe, representing 17 different countries.

Valentina Gonzalez, 18, of Columbia, was among Wesleyan’s international students — who combined for 16 percent of its undergraduate profile and represented 40 countries. As a freshman just starting down her U.S. academic path, Gonzalez said she faced extra hurdles and hoops as an international student.

But she’s been accepted at Coe, which has offered her significant financial aid.

“I think it’s actually cheaper than here,” she said. “And all the grades are valid.”

Coe Vice President for Enrollment Julie Staker said the campus took steps to ease the transfer process for those interested in a move to Cedar Rapids.

“We are mindful that choosing a new college was not how these students were planning to spend the final weeks of their spring semester,” she said. “We’ve tried to ease the burden of this challenging transition as much as possible.”

In addition to the students in search of a new institution, Wesleyan employed 110 full-time workers, plus another nearly 100 part-time, adjunct and contracted employees.

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Because employees aren’t required to report information about their next steps, spokeswoman Richtman said Wesleyan doesn’t have data on how many found jobs.

“I can say that we are hearing many employees are in interviews and some have found positions, but no facts or figures to share,” Richtman said.

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And while some students have identified a best path forward, others have reported frustration and dissolution — deciding to leave not just the campus and community but the state, a warning the Wesleyan president flagged in asking the governor for help.

“People started leaving as soon as they said it,” freshman Lemon said. “They just started going back home. There were some new guys from Cali (fornia). They just disappeared after the announcement.”

One of his friends wrapped up the term with a grade-point average of just 0.08, he said, because he stopped showing up to class.

“Most students here already were not from Iowa,” Lemon said.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com