Union Institute & University (UI&U) is a
privateonline university with its headquarters in
Cincinnati, Ohio. The university is
accredited by the
Higher Learning Commission and operates satellite campuses in Florida and California. Since early 2023, it has been experiencing severe financial challenges. Federal financial aid has been cut off, it has not paid employees, and it has been evicted from its headquarters in Cincinnati for failing to pay rent.
History
Creation and growth
Union Institute & University traces its origins to 1964, when the president of
Goddard College hosted the presidents of nine liberal arts institutions at a conference to discuss cooperation in educational innovation and experimentation.[1] The Union for Research and Experimentation in Higher Education[2] was established with
Antioch College,
Bard College,
Goddard College,
Chicago Teachers North, Monteith Masson, New College at
Hofstra University,
Sarah Lawrence College,
Shimer College, and
Stephens College originally forming The Union for Research and Experimentation in Higher Education, later known as the Union Institute.[3][1] The "discovery" of the English
open education movement may have played a factor in the interest in progressive education.[4]
From its inception, the institution had a continuing emphasis on social relevance and
interdisciplinarity of research. The Union Graduate School's doctoral programs were based on the British
tutorial system. The first doctoral students were admitted in 1970.[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.[6]
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 institution is based on the
Oxbridge educational model. By 1971, five more colleges and universities joined the Union, bringing the total consortium to 22 schools of higher education.[1] In 1975, the number of schools in the University Without Walls network reached 34.[7] The Union provided administrative support for these programs under the guidance of Samuel Baskin.[8]
The Union of Experimenting Colleges and Universities, or UECU, disbanded in 1982, but the University Without Walls remained in operation[9] after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984.[10] The University Without Walls was renamed in 1989 as "The Union Institute".[11]
Vermont College acquisition and spin-off
The Union Institute acquired Vermont College in
Montpelier, Vermont, from
Norwich University in 2001.[12] 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.[13]
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.[14] 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 to 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.[14] In 2004 the U.S. Department of Education also raised concerns about the quality of the institute's PhD programs.[15]
2023 financial distress
Union Institute began to publicly experience severe financial distress in March 2023 when salaries owed to university staff were paid late.[16]
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.[17] The lawsuit was settled in March 2024 for $110,000.[18]
The start of the fall 2023 semester was delayed from August 28 to November 6,[19] and then cancelled completely on November 15.[20][21] 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.[22] Christopher Miller, chief of the Atlanta School Participation and Financial Analysis Division of the
United States Department of Education, wrote in a letter to President Webb that "few staff remain" as Union has failed to pay staff for three pay periods, and "[i]t is unclear if [Union] has the financial resources to resume educational instruction with minimal staff and resources."[23] In addition the Department of Education demanded that Union secure US$12,000,000 in credit or cash by October 13, 2023, in order to not lose access to federal financial aid.[24] They also noted that Union has yet to pay US$750,000 in federal loan refunds that were due in July 2023, and lost access to student data with the loss of its headquarters, from which the university was officially evicted on November 9.[25][26] 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."[27][28]
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.[29]
In late November, the U.S. Department of Education revoked the institution's ability to receive federal financial aid. It also fined Union $4.3 million, alleging that the institution collected more federal funding that it was supposed to collect and failed to refund the federal government.[30][31][32] In addition, the Education Department reported that the Institute had missed employee payroll for the past several months and had failed to refund more than $750,000 in student financial aid that had been required.[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][18]
Campus locations
Originally, instruction was provided as a low-residency model at the constituent colleges of the organization.
That same year, it moved into a rented building at 2090 Florence Avenue in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati.[35] By July 2023, the university was "in default to the tune of more than $367,000" with respect to rent on its headquarters[36] and the following month, in August 2023, the university was locked out of its Cincinnati headquarters.[37] It was officially evicted from the building on November 9, 2023.[38]
Gerald Haslam, author, Workin' Man Blues, Straight White Male, Coming of Age in California
Carl Hausman, professor of journalism at
Rowan University and author of Lies We Live By: Defeating Double-talk and Deception in Advertising, Politics and the Media (Routledge, 2000) and other works
Jean Houston, author and lecturer, co-founder of the Foundation for Mind Research
^Smith, Lydia A. H. (1988). 'Open Education' Revisited--Americans Discover English Informal Education, 1967-1974.
OCLC1062873300.
ERICED304043.[page needed]
^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.